This article is about the chemical element Curium; for the ancient city also called Curium (located in Cyprus), see Kourion Curium () is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Cm and atomic number 96. A radioactive metallic transuranic element of the actinide series, curium is produced by bombarding plutonium with alpha particles (helium ions) and was named for Marie Curie and her husband Pierre. Notable characteristics The isotope curium-248 has been synthesized only in milligram quantities, but curium-242 and curium-244 are made in multigram amounts, which allows for the determination of some of the element's properties. Curium-244 can be made in quantity by subjecting plutonium to neutron bombardment. Curium does not occur in nature. There are few commercial applications for curium but it may one day be