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What the name means: Technetium was named from the Greek word technikos, meaning “artificial”. Technetium, an element that is not found naturally in the Earth’s crust, was the first element to have been artificially produced.

Who identified technetium? Mendeleev’s periodic table had a place for element # 43. However, no element had been identified that fitted into the position # 43 in the table. Claims from chemists that element # 43 had been identified (in 1877, 1896 and 1908) were proved to be incorrect.

In 1939, two Italian scientists working in Sicily, Emilio Segrè and Carlo Perrier, obtained a sample of radio-active molybdenum from Ernest Lawrence, a physicist working in the USA. They discovered a radio-active element present in the sample that they identified as element # 43. They named the element technetium.

About technetium: Technetium is not found naturally in the Earth’s crust. It has, however, been identified as a product of nuclear fission. In the nuclear age, technetium is produced in large quantities in the fuel rods in nuclear power stations. Technetium is a radioactive, silvery metal. It is used in nuclear medicine.

A radioactive element breaks down over time producing harmful radiation. The reason that technetium is not found naturally is that any technetium that may have been present in the Earth’s crust has long since decayed. In 1952 technetium was detected in stars known as Red Giants.