Discovered by Marguerite Perey of France in 1939, francium was named for France. The isotopes of francium are highly unstable, so all information known about it is from radiochemical techniques. It occurs naturally in uranium, but less than one ounce can be in the earth's crust at one time. Francium was actually predicted in 1870- scientists were convinced that there would be another alkali metal higher than caesium. They even predicted it would be element number 87!
There had been numerous false claims to the discovery of francium, but Marguerite was the one to discover it. The difference between her and other researchers is that she found the traces of it in decaying actinium; actinium is the PRIMARY natural source of francium, but it is harder to obtain than from uranium. Due to its rarity, francium has not been used in any commercial products or machines.
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