Einsteinium was discovered by a team of scientists led by Albert Ghiorso in 1952 while studying the radioactive debris produced by the detonation of the first hydrogen bomb. The isotope they discovered, einsteinium-253, has a half-life of about 20 days and was produced by combining 15 neutrons with uranium-238, which then underwent seven beta decays. Today, einsteinium is produced though a lengthy chain of nuclear reactions that involves bombarding each isotope in the chain with neutrons and then allowing the resulting isotope to undergo beta decay.

Einsteinium's most stable isotope, einsteinium-252, has a half-life of about 471.7 days. It decays into berkelium-248 through alpha decay, into californium-252 through electron capture or into fermium-252 through beta decay.

Since only small amounts of einsteinium have ever been produced, it currently has no uses outside of basic scientific research.