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
James Chadwick with no electric charge. Then in January 1932, Feather drew Chadwick's attention to another surprising result. Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie had succeeded in knocking protons from paraffin wax using polonium and beryllium as a source for what they thought was gamma radiation. Rutherford and Chadwick disagreed; protons were too heavy for that. But neutrons would need only a small amount of energy to achieve the same effect. In Rome, Ettore Majorana came to the same conclusion: the Joliot-Curies had discovered the neutron but did not know it. Chadwick dropped all his other responsibilities to concentrate on proving the existence of