Polonium years) can be made through the alpha, proton, or deuteron bombardment of lead or bismuth in a cyclotron. Tentatively called "radium F", polonium was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898, and was named after Marie Curie's native land of Poland (). Poland at the time was under Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian partition, and did not exist as an independent country. It was Curie's hope that naming the element after her native land would publicize its lack of independence. Polonium may be the first element named to highlight a political controversy. This element was the first one discovered by
Polonium dichloride Polonium dichloride Polonium dichloride is a chemical compound of the radioactive metalloid polonium and chlorine. Its chemical formula is PoCl. Polonium dichloride appears to crystallise with an orthorhombic unit cell in either the "P"222, "P"mm2 or "Pmmm" space group, although this is likely a pseudo-cell. Alternatively, the true space group may be monoclinic or triclinic, with one or more cell angles close to 90°. Assuming the space group is "P"222, the structure exhibits distorted cubic coordination of Po as {PoCl} and distorted square planar coordination of Cl as {ClPo}. PoCl can be obtained either by halogenation of polonium metal or