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 a volatile liquid at room temperature prone to dissociation; it is thermally unstable. Water is the only other known hydrogen chalcogenide which is a liquid at room temperature; however, this is due to hydrogen bonding. The two oxides PoO and PoO are the products of oxidation of polonium. Halides of the structure PoX, PoX and PoF are known. They are soluble in the corresponding hydrogen halides, i.e., PoCl in HCl, PoBr in HBr and PoI in HI. Polonium dihalides are formed by direct reaction of the elements or by reduction of PoCl with SO and with PoBr with HS at