The discovery of curium, which along with americium was linked to the Manhattan Project, was leaked on the US radio show Quiz Kids five days before its official presentation at the American Chemical Society meeting in 1945. It is a product of the bombardment of uranium or plutonium and is used in pacemakers and as an energy source on space missions. It is named for the Pierre and Marie Curie, who discovered radium and were known for their work on radioactivity.