(Group 6) Historical Development of Chemical Elements

By miltimeline

  • Early History

    The elements carbon, sulfur, iron, tin, lead, copper, mercury, silver, and gold are known to humans. (1600) The elements arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and zinc are known to humans.

  • Phosphorus

    German physician Hennig Brand discovers phosphorus.

  • Cobalt

    Swedish chemist Georg Brandt discovers cobalt.

  • Platinum

    Spanish military Leader Don Antonio de Ulloa discovers platinum

  • Nickel

    Swedish mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt discovers nickel.

  • Hydrogen

    English chemist and physicist Henry Cavendish discovers hydrogen.

  • Nitrogen

    Scottish physician and chemist Daniel Rutherford discovers nitrogen.

  • Chlorine, Manganese & Oxygen

    Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovers chlorine. Swedish mineralogist Johann Gottlieb Gahn discovers manganese. English chemist Joseph Priestley and Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele discover oxygen.

  • Molybdenum

    Swedish chemist Peter Jacob Hjelm discovers molybdenum.

  • Tellurium

    Austrian mineralogist Baron Franz Joseph Müller von Reichenstein discovers tellurium.

  • Tungsten

    Spanish scientists Don Fausto D'Elhuyard and Don Juan José D'Elhuyard, and Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele discover tungsten.

  • Uranium & Zirconium

    German chemist Martin Klaproth discovers uranium & zirconium.

  • Titanium

    English clergyman William Gregor discovers titanium.

  • Yttrium

    Finnish chemist Johan Gadolin discovers yttrium.

  • Chromium

    French chemist Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin discovers chromium.

  • Beryllium

    French chemist Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin discovers beryllium.

  • Niobium & Vanadium

    English chemist Charles Hatchett discovers niobium. Spanish-Mexican metallurgist Andrés Manuel del Río discovers vanadium

  • Tantalum

    Swedish chemist and mineralogist Anders Gustaf Ekeberg discovers tantalum.

  • Palladium & Other Elements

    English chemist and physicist William Hyde Wollaston discovers palladium. Swedish chemists Jöns Jakob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger, and German chemist Martin Klaproth discover black rock of Bastnas, Sweden, which led to the discovery of several elements.

  • Rhodium, Osmium & Iridium

    English chemist and physicist William Hyde Wollaston discovers rhodium. English chemist Smithson Tennant discovers osmium and iridium.

  • Potassium & Sodium

    English chemist Sir Humphry Davy discovers potassium and sodium.

  • Barium, Strontium, Calcium, Magnesium, & Boron

    English chemist Sir Humphry Davy discovers barium, strontium, calcium and magnesium. French chemists Louis Jacques Thênard and Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac discover boron.

  • Iodine

    French chemist Bernard Courtois discovers iodine.

  • Lithium & Cadmium

    Swedish chemist Johan August Arfwedson discovers lithium. German chemist Friedrich Stromeyer discovers cadmium.

  • Selenium

    Swedish chemists Jöns Jakob Berzelius and J. G. Gahn discover selenium.

  • Silicon

    Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius discovers silicon.

  • Aluminum

    Danish chemist and physicist Hans Christian Oersted discovers aluminum.

  • Bromine

    French chemist Antoine-Jérôme Balard discovers bromine.

  • Thorium

    Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius discovers thorium.

  • Vanadium

    Swedish chemist Nils Gabriel Sefström rediscovers vanadium.

  • Cerium & Lanthanum

    Swedish chemist Carl Gustav Mosander discovers cerium and lanthanum.

  • Terbium & Erbium

    Swedish chemist Carl Gustav Mosander discovers terbium and erbium.

  • Ruthenium

    Russian chemist Carl Ernst Claus discovers ruthenium.

  • Cesium, Rubidium, & Thallium

    German chemists Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff discover cesium and rubidium.
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    British physicist Sir William Crookes discovers thallium.

  • Indium

    German chemists Ferdinand Reich and Hieronymus Theodor Richter discover indium.

  • Gallium

    Paul-émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovers gallium .

  • Ytterbium

    Jean-Charles-Galissard de Marignac receives partial credit for the discovery of ytterbium.

  • Holmium, Thulium, Scandium & Ytterbium

    Swedish chemist Per Teodor Cleve discovers holmium and thulium.
    Swedish chemist Lars Nilson discovers scandium and receives partial credit for the discovery of ytterbium.

  • Samarium & Gadolinium

    French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovers samarium. French chemist Jean-Charles-Galissard de Marignac discovers gadolinium.

  • Praseodymium, Neodymium & Germanium

    Austrian chemist Carl Auer (Baron von Welsbach) discovers praseodymium and neodymium. German chemist Clemens Alexander Winkler discovers germanium.

  • Flourine & Dysprosium

    French chemist Henri Moissan discovers fluorine. French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovers dysprosium.

  • Argon

    English chemists Lord Rayleigh and William Ramsav discover argon.

  • Helium

    English chemist Sir William Ramsay and Swedish chemists Per Teodor Cleve and Nils Abraham Langlet discover helium.

  • Krypton, Neon, Xenon, Polonium, & Radium

    English chemists William Ramsay and Morris Travers discover krypton, neon and xenon. French physicists Marie and Pierre Curie discover polonium and radium.

  • Actinium

    French chemist André Debierne discovers actinium.

  • Radon

    German physicist Friedrich Ernst Dorn discovers radon.

  • Europium

    French chemist Eugène-Anatole Demarçay discovers europium.

  • Lutetium & Ytterbium

    French chemist Georges Urbain discovers lutetium and receives partial credit for the discovery of ytterbium.

  • Protactinium

    German physicists Use Meitner and Otto Hahn discover protactinium.

  • Hafnium

    Dutch physicist Dirk Coster and Hungarian chemist George Charles de Hevesy discover hafnium.

  • Rhenium

    German chemists Walter Noddack, Ida Tacke, and Otto Berg discover rhenium.

  • Francium

    French chemist Marguerite Perey discovers francium.

  • Technetium

    Italian physicist Emilio Segré and his colleague Carlo Perrier discover technetium.

  • Neptunium, Astatine, & Plutonium

    Edwin M. McMillan and Philip H. Abelson prepare neptunium. Dale R. Corson, Kenneth R. Mackenzie, and Emilio Segré discover astatine. The University of California at Berkeley researcher Glenn Seaborg and others prepare plutonium.

  • Americium & Curium

    University of California at Berkeley researchers Glenn Seaborg, Albert Ghiorso, Ralph A. James, and Leon O. Morgan prepare americium. University of California at Berkeley researchers Glenn Seaborg, Albert Ghiorso, and Ralph A. James prepare curium.

  • Promethium.

    Scientists at the Oak Ridge Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, discover promethium.

  • Berkelium

    The University of California at Berkeley researchers prepare berkelium.

  • Californium

    University of California at Berkeley researchers Glenn Seaborg, Albert Ghiorso, Kenneth Street, Jr., and Stanley G. Thompson prepare californium.

  • Einsteinium & Fermium

    University of California at Berkeley researchers prepare einsteinium. University of California at Berkeley researcher Albert Ghiorso and others prepare fermium.

  • Transfermium Elements

    1960s & 1970s Researchers at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research, in Dubna, Russia; the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley; and the Institute for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, Germany, continue to prepare new transfermium elements.