On the periodic table, fermium was named in honor of physicist Enrico Fermi.
Fermium has atomic number 100 and is a synthetic actinide. It was first identified in debris from the first hydrogen-bomb explosion, the November 1952 Ivy Mike test, although the discovery was not publicly announced until 1955 because of secrecy surrounding nuclear weapons research.
The element was named for Enrico Fermi, a major figure in nuclear physics and the construction of the first controlled nuclear reactor. Fermium is produced only in very small quantities and has no practical commercial applications because all of its isotopes are radioactive.
Fermium is often confused with einsteinium, atomic number 99, which honors Albert Einstein. Mendelevium, atomic number 101, honors Dmitri Mendeleev, while rutherfordium, atomic number 104, honors Ernest Rutherford.