Einsteinium is a synthetic element named in honor of Albert Einstein, discovered in the debris of the Ivy Mike H-bomb test.
Core Principles & Analysis
Einsteinium was discovered in the radioactive debris of 'Ivy Mike', the first hydrogen-bomb test in November 1952, and the finding remained classified until 1955.
Named for Albert Einstein, its most stable isotope, einsteinium-252, has a half-life of 471.7 days, while the more available reactor product einsteinium-253 lasts just 20.5 days.
An einsteinium-253 target yielded the first atoms of mendelevium in 1955, and in 2021 Berkeley researchers measured the first einsteinium chemical bond length using a sample under 250 nanograms.