Berkelium was named after the University of California in Berkeley, where scientists detected all eleven transuranium elements. Berkelium can be obtained by use of accelerators at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley.

Berkelium was discovered in 1949. ²⁴⁹Bk has a half-life of 314 days and can be made in microgram (10^-6 gram) quantities from ²³⁹Pu.

Shown above is a highly magnified sample of a 20 nanogram (10^-9 gram) sample of berkelium as its dioxide.