The Wonders of the Periodic Table Element – Mendelevium. Mendelevium, with the chemical symbol Md and atomic number 101, was named in honor of Dmitri Mendeleev, the father of the periodic table. This remarkable element was discovered in 1955 by a group of scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, led by Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, and Edwin M. McMillan. Interestingly, the creation of Mendelevium was no simple feat. It was formed by bombarding einsteinium, another synthetic element, with alpha particles. Read more.