Who is the chemical element Curium named after?

The story behind the answer

Curium (Cm), element 96, is named in honor of Marie and Pierre Curie, pioneers of radioactivity whose work with radium and polonium transformed physics and chemistry. Discovered in 1944 by Glenn Seaborg and colleagues at Berkeley, curium is a synthetic, highly radioactive actinide—fittingly paying tribute to the Curie legacy in nuclear science.

A neat connection: while it’s not named after NASA’s Curiosity rover, curium-244 is used as an alpha source in instruments (APXS) on Mars rovers—including Curiosity—to analyze rock chemistry. Memory tip: Curium = Curie + -ium, and “Cm” can stand for “Curie married,” reminding you it honors both Marie and Pierre.