In search of the elusive concept of the “Island of Stability,” an idea foreign to many outside the world of nuclear physics, University of California and Russian scientists have created the heaviest element known so far.

Element 118, yet to be named, has 118 protons and was created in independent studies conducted in Russia and at the UC-managed Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, researchers announced Monday. As the heaviest element, the new creation will, if confirmed, be placed beneath radon on the periodic table of elements, said Anne Stark, a spokesman for Livermore.

Stark said that the creation of the element still must be confirmed by other scientists, and this process could take some time. Once another group of scientists verifies the discovery, the element will be given a name.

“This is quite a breakthrough for science,” said Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, associate director of chemistry, materials and life sciences at Livermore.

Scientists at the laboratories smashed together calcium and the man-made element Californium to create an element with 118 protons in its nucleus . The element lasted one millisecond.

Element 118 was created in Russia last year, using Californium provided by American scientists.

Creating a new element “is sort of the Holy Grail of nuclear physics,” said Konrad Gelbke, a scientist who was not on the team but directs the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University. “It’s extremely hard to do.”

Scientists at Livermore and their Russian counterparts in Dubna, at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, have discovered a total of five new elements, including element 118.

Though the atom lasted only for a split second, the discovery is believed to have brought scientists one step closer to the “Island of Stability,” a term nuclear physicists use to describe the possibility that there are elements with a particularly stable number of protons and neutrons.

The most stable number is considered to be 184, Stark said, and scientists believe that elements with 184 protons will decay much more slowly than other elements.

“By reaching that number, (scientists) will get this island of stable elements, so to speak,” Stark said. “They keep trying to get closer and closer to that island.”

Element 118 is the closest scientists have yet come to that magic number.

“The decay properties of all the isotopes that we have made so far paint the picture of a large, sort of flat ‘Island of Stability’ and indicate that we may have luck if we try to go even heavier,” said Ken Moody, Livermore’s team leader.

Scientists working with element 118 will now be analyzing how to make it last longer, Stark said.

With reports from Bruin wire services.