Polonium the Curies while they were investigating the cause of pitchblende radioactivity. Pitchblende, after removal of the radioactive elements uranium and thorium, was more radioactive than the uranium and thorium combined. This spurred the Curies to search for additional radioactive elements. They first separated out polonium from pitchblende in July 1898, and five months later, also isolated radium. German scientist Willy Marckwald successfully isolated 3 milligrams of polonium in 1902, though at the time he believed it was a new element, which he dubbed "radio-tellurium", and it was not until 1905 that it was demonstrated to be the same as polonium.
Pitchblende (band) Pitchblende (band) Pitchblende was a four-piece art punk band from Washington, D.C., composed of Justin Chearno on guitar, Scott DeSimon on bass guitar, Patrick Gough on drums and Treiops Treyfid on guitar. Between 1991 and 1995, the group recorded three full-length albums and several singles for the independent labels Cargo, Jade Tree, Matador Records and Simple Machines. Although based in Washington, Pitchblende's dense, angular sound was commonly thought to be closer in style to the contemporary music scenes in New York City and Chicago than what was heard on the DC-based post-punk labels at the time. Central to Pitchblende's approach