Einsteinium is a synthetic element with symbol Es and atomic number 99. It is the seventh transuranic element, and an actinide. Einsteinium was discovered as a component of the debris of the first hydrogen bomb explosion in 1952, and named after Albert Einstein.
Three reasons Einsteinium stands out
- 1
Synthetic element, named after famous theoretical physicist.
- 2
It was secretly discovered in the radioactive debris of the first hydrogen bomb test in 1952.
- 3
So little of it has ever been made that studying its basic chemical properties remains a significant scientific challenge.
Discovered in the ashes of a hydrogen bomb
Einsteinium was identified in debris from the 1952 Ivy Mike thermonuclear test. Its discovery was initially classified, and only minuscule quantities have ever been isolated. Intense self-irradiation damages samples and produces heat, complicating attempts to measure what ordinary einsteinium chemistry would look like.