Oganesson

Many residents and visitors to Hyson Green in Nottingham will fondly remember the Old General Public House. No longer a pub, the building is now being developed into shops and flats.

The building featured a statue of the Old General, which stood over the door for more than 100 years. Benjamin Mayo was the Old General himself, and one of Nottingham’s eccentric characters.

Born sometime around 1779 Benjamin lived with his mother until she died, when he was taken in by Mr Hudson of St Peter’s Poorhouse. When Mr Hudson left Nottingham, Benjamin went to St Mary’s Workhouse and it was here he died in 1843. He was buried in the old St Peter’s Churchyard, Broad Marsh burial ground. There is a memorial plaque to the Old General in Nottingham’s General Cemetery.

Oganesson is a radioactive, artificially produced element about which little is known. Only a few atoms have ever been made.

It is a member of the noble gas group.

Russian nuclear physicist Yuri Oganessian is credited with the discovery of the element in 2002. Three years earlier, a team in California published a paper announcing the discovery of element 118, but their results could not be replicated and the team retracted their paper.