A radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Tc and atomic number 43, the first element to be artificially produced and the lightest element with no stable isotopes.
Named from Greek 'technetos' meaning 'artificial' because it was the first element to be artificially produced rather than discovered in nature. Italian scientists Emilio Segrè and Carlo Perrier created and named it in 1937 by bombarding molybdenum with deuterons. The name reflects its groundbreaking status as humanity's first artificial element.
Technetium was predicted by Mendeleev's periodic table decades before it was actually created, and it's so radioactive that if it ever existed naturally on Earth, it would have decayed away billions of years ago! Despite being artificial, tiny amounts are now found in nature because uranium decay sometimes produces it.
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