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Which element did the Curies name after Marie's homeland?
It was named for Poland, which was then divided among other empires. They announced it in 1898.
Marie and Pierre Curie noticed that pitchblende, a uranium ore, was more radioactive than the uranium it contained could explain. That suggested an unknown, more active substance. By chemically separating the ore, they found a fraction rich in a new element, and in July 1898 they announced it, proposing the name polonium after Poland. At the time Poland did not exist as an independent state, having been partitioned among Russia, Prussia and Austria, and Marie hoped the name would draw attention to her homeland's cause.
A few months later, in December 1898, the Curies announced a second element, radium, from the same ore. Polonium is far scarcer than uranium: it is produced in minute amounts in ores, and the Curies had to process tonnes of residue to obtain tiny quantities. It is highly radioactive, with its most common isotope, polonium-210, having a half-life of about 138 days and emitting alpha particles.
Polonium-210 is notable for its history after the Curies. It has been used as a neutron source and in antistatic devices. Its toxicity became widely known after the 2006 death of Alexander Litvinenko in London, which investigators attributed to polonium-210 poisoning. As a naming tribute, polonium is considered among the first elements named for a political purpose.