Why did Marie Curie name the element polonium?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Marie Curie named the element polonium in honor of her native land, Poland.12

She and her husband, Pierre Curie, discovered the element in 1898 while investigating the radioactivity of pitchblende, a uranium ore. They observed that the ore exhibited an intense radioactivity that could not be attributed to uranium alone, leading them to conclude that it contained a previously unknown element.12