californium

Californium is a radioactive rare earth metal named after the state of California and the University of California (USA). It is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Cf and atomic number 98.

The element was first synthesized in 1950 at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (then the University of California Radiation Laboratory), by bombarding curium with alpha particles (helium-4 ions).

It is an actinide element, the sixth transuranium element to be synthesized, and has the second-highest atomic mass of all elements that have been produced in amounts large enough to see with the naked eye (after einsteinium). Courtesy of triviaripple.com

A relative’s husband works at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In 2012, the laboratory had the synthetic chemical element livermorium (element 116) named after it.

photo from https://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/elements/californium/