Joe Rogan on element 115: what the evidence says · JRE #2479

FACT CHECK // JRE #2479 // EXHIBIT LOG
EPISODE AIRED APR 3, 2026 · THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE
CLAIM CMS6A41QSTATUS: PUBLISHED
SUBJECT: ELEMENT 115
SpeakerJoe Rogan (host)
Timestamp1:41:03
Aired
// 00 · ABSTRACT

The short answer

Rogan asserts element 115 was first proven to exist via a Large Hadron Collider experiment in the 2000s. Element 115 (later named moscovium) was synthesized in July-August 2003 by a joint Russian-American team at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research's U-400 cyclotron in Dubna, Russia, not at the Large Hadron Collider; the reaction bombarded an americium-243 target with a calcium-48 ion beam.

RulingNeeds Context

Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.

// THE CLAIM · ON TAPE
So Element 115 was not even really discussed back when you were doing this. It wasn't even discovered or proven physically until it was a large Hadron Collider experiment in the 2000s, right?
Joe Roganhost@ 1:41:03
Watch on YouTubeJUMP TO 1:41:03

What the evidence says 01 / RECORD

Rogan states element 115 was first proven to exist in a Large Hadron Collider experiment in the 2000s. Element 115 (later named moscovium) was synthesized in July-August 2003 by a joint Russian-American team at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research's U-400 cyclotron in Dubna, Russia, not at the Large Hadron Collider; the reaction bombarded an americium-243 target with a calcium-48 ion beam. The Large Hadron Collider, located at CERN, is a proton-proton collider built for particle physics research and did not begin operating until 2008, and it has never been used to synthesize superheavy elements such as moscovium. A second team at Lund University in Sweden independently confirmed the production of element 115 isotopes in 2013, and IUPAC formally named the element moscovium in 2016. The claim's method and facility are both incorrect, though the general decade (2000s) for initial synthesis is roughly right.

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