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
The Apocalypse Element galaxy. The Apocalypse Element The Apocalypse Element is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series "Doctor Who". It forms the second serial in the Dalek Empire arc, following on from events in "The Genocide Machine". The arc continues in "The Mutant Phase" and concludes in "The Time of the Daleks". At a conference on Archetryx between major temporal powers, the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn discover that Romana has been missing for twenty years and that the Daleks' newest weapon — the Apocalypse Element — threatens not only the Time Lords but the