a transuranic element artificially produced by neutron bombardment of plutonium. Symbol: Fm; atomic no: 100; half-life of most stable isotope, 257Fm: 80 days (approx.)
Word origin
C20: named after Enrico Fermi
fermium in American English
(ˈfɛrmiəm; ˈfɜrmiəm)
US
noun
a radioactive, metallic chemical element, one of the actinides, produced by intense neutron bombardment of plutonium, as in a cyclotron: symbol, Fm; at. no., 100
Word origin
ModL: so named (1955) by A. Ghiorso and co-workers, after Fermi (in honor of his studies in nuclear physics) + -ium