fermium Hear it!

fermium definition

☆ fer·mium (fer′mē əm, fʉr′-)

noun

a radioactive, metallic chemical element, one of the actinides, produced by intense neutron bombardment of plutonium, as in a cyclotron: symbol, Fm; at. no., 100

Etymology: ModL: so named (1955) by A. Ghiorso and co-workers, after Enrico Fermi (in honor of his studies in nuclear physics) + -ium

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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