Mendelevium is a very rare and highly radioactive element that belongs to the actinide series. It was first synthesized by bombarding einsteinium-253 with alpha particles in a cyclotron. Its most stable isotope, Mendelevium-258, has a half-life of just over 50 days.

Mendelevium was named after Dmitry Mendeleev, the father of the periodic table. Its discovery helped to confirm the validity of Mendeleev’s predictions of the properties of elements that had not yet been discovered.

Currently, there are no known uses for Mendelevium outside of scientific research due to its incredibly short half-life and radioactive properties.