Chemical Element: astatine

(Modern Latin: chemical element; from Greek, astatos, unstable; radioactive nonmetal)

Chemical-Element Information

Symbol: At
Atomic number: 85
Year discovered: 1940; named in 1947 at the University of California, Berkeley.

Discovered by: Emilio Gino Segrè (1905-1989), Italian physicist, Dale R. Corson, and Kenneth R. MacKenzie.


  • Astatine was synthesized in 1940 by Dale Corson, Kenneth MacKenzie, and Emilio Segrè at the University of California, Berkeley, by bombarding bismuth with alpha-particles which resulted in a nuclear reaction.
  • Astatine has some physiological importance because it is readily taken up by the thyroid gland as is iodine.
  • In general, it resembles iodine.

Name in other languages:

French: astate

German: Astat

Italian: astato

Spanish: astato


Information about other elements may be seen at this Chemical Elements List.

A special unit about words that include chemo-, chem- may be seen here.