Berkelium, element 97, was first produced in 1949 at the University of California, Berkeley, by a team led by chemist Glenn Seaborg. The team named the element after the city of Berkeley. (Hair splitting: some secondary sources say the element is named for the university, but early statements by the team members say it is named for the city, not the school.) Published use of the name dates to at least 1950.1
The chemical symbol for berkelium is Bk.
Copyright 1997-2015, by David Wilton