Berkelium

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A synthetic chemical element with the symbol Bk and atomic number 97, first discovered in 1949 by bombarding americium with alpha particles ; as with other heavy actinides, the name may rarely appear as a reference or metaphor in scientific or educational contexts
2. A transuranic element bearing atomic number 97 and symbol Bk, named after the city of Berkeley where it was first identified ; occasionally, its name may be used metaphorically in academic or technical writing
3. An artificially produced member of the actinide series with symbol Bk and atomic number 97, notable for its use in scientific research to synthesize heavier elements ; the word may also find figurative or symbolic employment

Etymology: Berkelium is named for a place, not a person. It was first produced in December 1949 at the University of California, Berkeley, by a team led by Glenn Seaborg, Albert Ghiorso, Stanley Thompson and Kenneth Street Jr. The element was made by bombarding americium with alpha particles in a cyclotron, and the researchers named it after the city of Berkeley, California, where the university sits. The name follows the pattern of earlier elements that honoured places, and its ending comes from the Latin suffix "-ium", the standard form for chemical elements. The first part, "Berkeley", traces back to the Old English "beorc" (birch tree) and "leah" (clearing or wood), so the name of the city is roughly "birch-wood clearing", a fitting origin for a metal named after a Californian campus.