Polonium

Polonium was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie along with radium in 1898. They found it while investigating radioactivity in Paris. When they discovered it, they wrote: “We thus believe that the substance that we have extracted from pitchblende contains a metal never known before, akin to bismuth in its analytic properties. If the existence of this new metal is confirmed, we suggest that it should be called polonium after the name of the country of origin of one of us.”

Polonium was named for Marie's birth country- Poland. At the time of polonium's discovery, the danger of working with radioactive things wasn't known. Because of this, their notes from their discoveries were so radioactive that they are currently stored in a lead box. Polonium is very dangerous and toxic. It is highly dangerous if swallowed or inhaled- and exposure to it increases chance of getting many different cancers.

Polonium, while dangerous, is actually quite rare. It is a silver/gray metal. It is often used in products to get rid of static electricity in certain processes and is in rolling paper, wire and sheet metal. However beta decay sources are more often used for this because they are less toxic.