 Discovery Information |
| Who:
J.A. Marinsky
, L.E. Glendenin, C.D. Coryell |
| When: 1945 |
| Where: United States |
|
| Name Origin |
| From Prometheus who stole the fire of the sky and gave it to mankind. |
|
| Sources |
| Does not occur naturally. Found among fission products of uranium, thorium, and plutonium. |
|
| Uses |
| Used as a radiation source in thickness gauges, photoelectric cells and hold potential as a heat source for auxilliary power in satellites. In a nuclear battery in which photocells convert the light into electric current, yielding a useful life of about five years using 147-Pm. |
|
| Notes |
| Promethium must be handled with great care because of its high radioactivity. |
| Promethium is also the name of a fictional element in the DC Universe; writer Marv Wolfman claims to have been unaware of the existence of a real substance by that name at the time he wrote the original script featuring the name. |
