Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84, discovered in 1898 by Marie Sk?odowska-Curie and Pierre Curie. A rare and highly radioactive element, polonium is chemically similar to bismuth[1] and tellurium, and it occurs in uranium ores. Polonium has been studied for possible use in heating spacecraft. As it is unstable, all isotopes of polonium are radioactive. There is disagreement as to whether polonium is a post-transition metal or metalloid.The early researchers also discovered that many other chemical elements besides uranium have radioactive isotopes. A systematic search for the total radioactivity in uranium ores also guided Marie Curie to isolate a new element polonium and to separate a new element radium from barium. The two elements' chemical similarity would otherwise have made them difficult to distinguish.
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