What is Fermium?
[[File:Enrico Fermi 1943-49.jpg|thumb|[[Enrico Fermi]].]] '''Fermium''' (symbol '''Fm''') is a [[chemical element]]. It has an [[atomic number]] of 100, which makes it at position 100 at the [[periodic table]]. Fermium cannot be found in nature; it has to be made. Scientists can create it by combining [[plutonium]] with [[neutron|neutrons]] at very high speeds and temperatures. It is named after [[Enrico Fermi]]. == History == [[Albert Ghiorso]] and other scientists at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] first discovered fermium. They found the element in the [[fallout]] from the explosion of the first successful [[hydrogen bomb]] test. This test was on November 1, [[1952]]. In the fallout, scientists also discovered another new [[Chemical element|element]], [[Einsteinium]]. Because of the [[Cold War]], the US military did not allow the scientists to publish their results in a [[scientific journal]]. However, they conducted other studies and published their research in 1954. The studies of nuclear fallout were [[classified information|declassified]] and published in 1955. A group in the Nobel Institute for Physics in [[Stockholm]] also discovered [[isotopes]] of this element before the research of the Berkeley scientists was published. However, most agree that the Berkeley scientists were the first to discover fermium. {{chem-stub}} {{Periodic Table}} [[Category:Actinides]] [[Category:Synthetic elements]]