Chemical Element: berkelium

(Modern Latin: chemical element; first made at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at the University of California in Berkeley; radioactive metal)

Chemical-Element Information

Symbol: Bk
Atomic number: 97
Year discovered: 1949

Discovered by: Glenn Theodore Seaborg (1912-1999), American physicist; and co-workers, Albert Ghiorso (born July 15, 1915), and S. G. Thompson at the University of California at Berkeley.


  • The scientists suggested the name berkelium in honor of the place of its discovery.
  • It was first isolated in weighable amounts by Thompson and B. B. Cunningham at Berkeley in 1958.
  • Berkelium is a man-made chemical element that exists only in radioactive forms prepared by nuclear reaction.

    • Name in other languages:

    French: berkélium

    German: Berkelium

    Italian: berkelio

    Spanish: berkelio


    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.