Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider turned lead into gold – by accident

While smashing lead atoms into each other at extremely high speeds in an effort to mimic the state of the universe just after the Big Bang, physicists working on the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland incidentally produced small amounts of gold. Extremely small amounts, in fact: a total of some 29 trillionths of a gram.

https://theconversation.com/physicists-at-the-large-hadron-collider-turned-lead-into-gold-by-accident-256478