An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A → radioactive element not found in nature but discovered in 1944 among the products of → plutonium-239 after bombardment by high-energy → alpha particles in a cyclotron at the University of California at Berkeley; symbol Cm. Atomic number 96; mass number of most stable isotope 247; melting point about 1,340°C; boiling point 3,110°C.

See also: Named after French physicists Pierre Curie (1859-1906) and his wife Marie Curie (1867-1934, née Maria Skłodowska).