 Discovery Information
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| Who: J.A. Marinsky, L.E. Glendenin, C.D. Coryell
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| When: 1945 |
| Where: United States |
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| Name Origin
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| From Prometheus who stole the fire of the sky and gave it to mankind. |
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| Sources
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| Does not occur naturally. Found among fission products of uranium, thorium, and plutonium.
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| Uses
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| Used as a radiation source in thickness gauges, photoelectric cells and hold potential as a heat source for auxiliary power
in satellites. In a nuclear battery in which photocells convert the light into electric current, yielding a useful life of
about five years using 147-Pm.
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| Notes
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| Promethium must be handled with great care because of its high radioactivity. |
| Promethium is also the name of a fictional element in the DC Universe; writer Marv Wolfman claims to have been unaware of
the existence of a real substance by that name at the time he wrote the original script featuring the name.
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