Curium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element named after Marie and Pierre Curie.
Core Principles & Analysis
Curium was created in 1944 by Seaborg, Ralph James, and Albert Ghiorso, who bombarded plutonium-239 with alpha particles; the name honors Marie and Pierre Curie.
Curium-247's half-life of 15.6 million years is the longest of any isotope of an element heavier than plutonium.
Curium-244 alpha sources powered the alpha particle X-ray spectrometers that analyzed rocks for Mars rovers from Sojourner through Spirit and Opportunity, as well as the Philae comet lander.