Mendelevium is yet another product of the Bekeley lab at the University of California. It was discovered in 1955, named after Dmitri Mendeleyev, who devised the periodic table.

²⁵⁶Md was first produced by bombarding einsteinium-253 with helium nuclei (or alpha particles). Scientists identified mendelevium from the slightest shred of evidence as mendelevium is the first synthetic, or man-made, element that was assembled virtually one atom at a time. Little is known about the nature of mendelevium compounds.