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einsteinium definition

ein·stein·ium (īn stīnē əm)

noun

a radioactive, metallic chemical element, one of the actinides, discovered in the debris of the first thermonuclear explosion in 1952, but now produced by bombarding plutonium with neutrons: symbol, Es; at. no., 99

Etymology: ModL, after Albert Einstein (in honor of his theoretical studies of mass and energy) + -ium: so named (1955) by A. Ghiorso and co-workers, who identified it

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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