Man-made elements: outlook for the year 2039

In the fifty years since the discovery of nuclear fission, the field of the study of the chemical and nuclear properties of the man-made elements has been transformed from a frontier science to a mature science with encompasses many subfields, and whose techniques are widely used in science and industry. Today, experiments are being performed with technology far beyond that available fifty years ago. The authors have looked fifty years into the future and tried to foresee the state of the field of the study of the man-made elements in the year 2039, on the 100th anniversary of the discovery of nuclear fission. (author) 59 refs.; 4 figs