Discoveries with cold heavy-ion fusion and shell stabilised nuclei around hassium

Cold fusion, using reactions with the doubly magic nucleus ²⁰⁸Pb and its neighbor ²⁰⁹Bi, have lead to the discovery of the shell stabilized nuclei around ²⁷⁰Hs paving the way to the artificial synthesis of superheavy nuclei. In this paper we present a brief history of the discoveries and their importance to the production and investigation of superheavy elements.