Well attestedNamed from the place
polonium
noun · first attested 1898
Marie Curie named it for a country that did not exist on the map of 1898.
The radioactive chemical element with atomic number 84, symbol Po.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1898
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Poland
- In English
polonium
Marie and Pierre Curie identified polonium in July 1898 in the residues left after extracting uranium from pitchblende, and it was the first element they found by following radioactivity rather than chemistry. Curie named it for her partitioned homeland, which had been divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria since the 1790s. It was a deliberately political choice and the first time an element had been used to make one.
Also pinned to Poland
2 more from the same place
Poland
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