Development of the Periodic Table

  • Phosphorus

    Phosphorus
    Phosphorus was discovered by German alchemist Hennig Brand.
  • Cobalt

    Cobalt
    Cobalt was discovered by a Swedish chemist Georg Brandt.
  • Platinum

    Platinum was discribed by Julius Caesar Scaliger in 1557. Although the metal was observed by Antonio de Ulloa and Don Jorge Juan y Santacilia in 1748.
  • Nickel

    Nickel was discovered by the Swedish chemist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt.
  • Hydrogen

    Hydrogen was discovered by English chemist and physicist Henry Cavendish.
  • Nitrogen

    Nitrogen was discovered by Scottish chemist Daniel Rutherford.
  • Chlorine

    Chlorine was discovered by a Swedish scientist, Carl Willam Scheele.
  • Oxygen

    Oxygen was discovered by English chemist Joseph Priestley and Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
  • Antoine Lavoiser

    Antoine Lavoisier wrote the first extensive list of elements containing 33 elements & distinguished between metals and non-metals
  • Zirconium

    Zirconium was discovered by German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth.
  • Titanium

    Titanium was first discovered by English clergyman William Gregor.
  • Beryllium

    Beryllium was discovered by French chemist Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin.
  • Iridium

    Irdium was discovered by English chemist Smithson Tennant.
  • Dalton's law

    John Dalton proposed "Dalton's Law" describing the relationship between the components in a mixture of gases
  • Potassium

    Potassium was discovered by English chemist Sir Humphry Davy.
  • Sodium

    Sodium was discovered by English chemist Sir Humphry Davy.
  • Magnesium

    Magnesium was discovered by Joseph Black, in England, in 1755. The element was isolated by A. A. B. Bussy and Sir Humphrey Davy in 1808.
  • Calcium

    Calcium was discovered by English chemist Sir Humphry Davy.
  • Lithium

    Lithium was discovered by Swedish chemist Johan August Arfwedson.
  • Lothar Meyer's Periodic Table

    Lothar Meyer published his version of the periodic table (after Mendeleev).
  • Aluminium

    Aluminium was discovered by Danish chemist and physicist Hans Christian Oersted.
  • 3 groups of elements

    Johann Dobereiner developed groups of 3 elements with similar properties
  • Halogen triad and alkali metal Triad

    Johann Dobereiner discovered the halogen triad and the alkali metal triad.
  • Ruthenium

    Ruthenium was discovered by the Russian scientist Karl Ernst Claus.
  • First produced periodic Table

    The first periodic table was created by de Chancourtois. He assembled the table by classifying chemical elements in an order based on their periodicity of chemical and physical properties.
  • Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois

    Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois
    In 1862, French geologist Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois listed the elements on paper tape and wound them, spiral like, around a cylinder. Certain ‘threes’ of elements with similar properties came together down the cylinder. He called his model the ‘telluric screw’.
  • John Newland proposed his 'law of octaves'

    John Newland proposed his 'law of octaves'
    In 1864, English chemist John Newlands noticed that, if the elements were arranged in order of atomic weight, there was a periodic similarity every 8 elements. He proposed his ‘law of octaves’ on this.
  • Lothar Meyer

    Lothar Meyer
    In 1869, Lothar Meyer complied a periodic table of 56 elements based on a regular repeating pattern of physical properties such as molar volume. Once again, the elements were arranged in order of increasing atomic weights.
  • Dimitri Mendeleev's Periodic Table

    Dmitri Mendeleev published his periodic table, eventually becoming the “father of the periodic table.”
  • Dmitei Mendeleev

    Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev produced a periodic table based on atomic weights but arranged ‘periodically’. Elements with similar properties appeared under each other. Gaps were left for yet to be discovered elements.
  • Holmium

    Holmium was discovered by Marc Delafontaine and Jacques-Louis Soret in 1878 in Switzerland. Later in 1878, a Swedish chemist, Per Teodor Cleve independently discovered the element holmium.
  • Noble Gases

    In 1894, William Ramsay discovered the noble gases and realised that they represented a new group in the periodic table.
  • Helium

    Helium
    French astronomer Pierre Janssen in 1868 found proof that a new element helium existed in the Sun. Helium was isolated by Sir William Ramsay and independently by N. A. Langley and P. T. Cleve at 1895 in London, England and Uppsala, Sweden.
  • Neon

    Neon was discovered by Sir William Ramsay, a Scottish chemist, and Morris M. Travers, an English chemist.
  • Zero Group

    William Ramsey helped to establish the “zero” group (for “zero valency”) and predicted the future discovery of the element neon.
  • Lutetium

    Lutetium was independently discovered by French scientist Georges Urbain, Austrian mineralogist Baron Carl Auer von Welsbach, and American chemist Charles James
  • Weight of an atom

    A. van den Broek established that the atomic weight of an element was approximatelyequal to the charge on an atom. This charge became the “atomic number” by whichperiodic table elements are classified.
  • Nuclear Charge

    Ernest Rutherford established that “the nuclear charge on a nucleus was proportional to the atomic weight of the element.”
  • Isoptopes of Elements

    Henry Moseley discovered the isotopes of elements. This discovery established that
    “the properties of the elements varied periodically with atomic number,” not atomic
    weight, which had been previously accepted under periodic law.
  • Atomic Numbers Discovered

    In 1914, Henry Moseley determined the atomic number of each of the known elements. He realised that, if the elements were arranged in order of increasing atomic number rather than atomic weight, they gave a better fit within the ‘periodic table’.
  • Protactinium

    Protactinium was discovered in 1917/18 by Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner.
  • Heavy mass Elements

    In 1940, Glenn Seaborg artificially produced heavy mass elements such as neptunium. These new elements were part of a new block of the periodic table called ‘actinides
  • Neptunium

    Neptunium was discovered by Edwin M. McMillan and Philip H. Abelson.
  • Last changes to the Periodic Table

    Glenn Seaborg discovered plutonium and the transuranic elements from 94 to 102.
    His findings represented the last (and most recent) changes to the periodic table.
  • Promethium

    Promethium
    Promethium was first produced at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1945 by Jacob A. Marinsky, Lawrence E. Glendenin and Charles D. Coryell. But its discovery was announced in 1947.
  • Isolating Oxygen

    Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Joseph Priestly independently isolated oxygen