Mendelevium

Mendelevium is named after Dmitri Mendeleev, the Russian chemist who created the periodic table of elements in 1869. First synthesized in 1955 by Albert Ghiorso, Bernard Harvey, Gregory Choppin, Stanley Thompson, and Glenn Seaborg, mendelevium was produced by bombarding einsteinium with alpha particles. Only 17 atoms were created in the first experiment!

Mendelevium is so rare that its properties are determined mostly from studying just a few atoms at a time. Its most stable isotope, mendelevium-258, has a half-life of about 51 days. The element has no uses outside of scientific research. Naming it after Mendeleev was fitting — the man who organized the elements into the table we use today deserved to have an element bear his name.

Mendelevium's symbol 'Md' is a distinctive two-letter element in Spellement. While 'md' is rare at the start of English words, partial emphasis lets spellers use 'm' or 'd' individually — both common consonants that provide reliable flexibility for building words from element symbols.