Word Study
curium
CIDE DICTIONARY
curium, n. [after Pierre and Marie Curie .].
a radioactive transuranic element of atomic number 96, having an atomic weight of 247 for its most stable isotope (half-life 1.6 x 107 years). The chemical symbol is Cm.
"It was first prepared in 1944 by helium-ion bombardment of plutonium in a cyclotron by Glenn Seaborg and colleagues in California. It has never been detected in nature, though minute quantities may exist in uranium deposits as a consequence of the neutron flux there." [WordNet 1.5]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
curium, n. an artificially made transuranic radioactive metallic element, first produced by bombarding plutonium with helium ions.
Usage
Symb.: Cm.
Etymology
M. Curie d. 1934 and P. Curie d. 1906, Fr. scientists
For further exploring for "curium" in Webster Dictionary Online