Currently, there are 118 elements on the periodic table. If a new element is discovered, naming it involves several factors. Elements can be named after how they were obtained, their attributes, the compound they were isolated from and places they were discovered. However, they can also be named after the people who found them. Fifteen elements have been named after scientists — here are five of them.
1. Curium (Cm)
Curium is named after Marie Curie and her husband Pierre — both pioneering scientists in the field of radioactivity. A radioactive metal not found in nature, curium is produced by the neutron bombardment of plutonium in a nuclear reactor.
First declassified in 1944 by scientists at the wartime metallurgical laboratory at the University of Chicago, curium has isotopes that produce heat energy which is convertible to electrical energy. It was used for satellite and pacemaker batteries — but was eventually replaced with lithium batteries. Along with americium, the discovery of curium was related to the top-secret Manhattan Project, so no announcement was made until WWII ended.
