ETYM New Lat. So named after Poland, in Latin form Polonia, one of the discoverers being a Pole.
Radioactive, metallic element, symbol Po, atomic number 84, atomic weight 210. Polonium occurs in nature in small amounts and was isolated from pitchblende. It is the element having the largest number of isotopes (27) and is 5,000 times as radioactive as radium, liberating considerable amounts of heat. It was the first element to have its radioactive properties recognized and investigated.
Polonium was isolated in 1898 from the pitchblende residues analyzed by French scientists Pierre and Marie Curie, and named for Marie Curie's native Poland.
A radioactive metallic element that is similar to tellurium and bismuth; occurs in uranium ores but can be produced by bombarding bismuth with neutrons in a nuclear reactor; SYN. Po, atomic number 84.