Curium

Discovered by: Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, Albert Ghiorso in 1944.

What is it? Curium is a hard, dense, silvery metal with a high melting and boiling point for an actinide.

Why is it important? Curium is used in making heavier actinides and the 238Pu radionuclide for power sources in artificial cardiac pacemakers and RTGs for spacecraft. It served as the α-source in the alpha particle X-ray spectrometers of several space probes, including the Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity Mars rovers and the Philae lander on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, to analyze the composition and structure of the surface.