Periodic Table History
Periodic Table
History - 440 BC
Democritus and Leucippus propose the idea of the atom, an
indivisible particle that all matter is made of.
Periodic
Table History - 330 BC
Aristotle proposes the four element theory: earth, air, fire &
water
Periodic
Table History - 360 BC
Plato coins term ‘elements’ (stoicheia)
Periodic
Table History - 1605
Sir Francis Bacon published "The Proficience and Advancement of
Learning" which contained a description of what would later be
known as the scientific method.
1661
Robert Boyle published "The Sceptical Chymist" which was a
treatise on the distinction between chemistry and alchemy. It
also contained some of the earliest ideas of atoms, molecules,
and chemical reaction marking the beginning of the history of
modern chemistry.
Periodic
Table History - 1754
Joseph Black isolated carbon dioxide, which he called "fixed
air".
1778
Antoine Lavoisier wrote the first extensive list of elements
containing 33 elements & distinguished between metals and
non-metals
Periodic
Table History - 1766
Henry Cavendish discovered hydrogen as a colorless, odourless
gas that burns and can form an explosive mixture with air.
1773–1774
Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Joseph Priestly independently isolated
oxygen.
Periodic
Table History - 1803
John Dalton proposed "Dalton's Law" describing the relationship
between the components in a mixture of gases.
1828
Jakob Berzelius developed a table of atomic weights & introduced
letters to symbolize elements.
Periodic
Table History - 1828
Johann Dobereiner who grouped together elements based on
similarities and patterns.
1864
John Newlands arranged the known elements in order of atomic
weights & observed similarities between some elements.
Periodic
Table History - 1864
Lothar Meyer develops an early version of the periodic table,
with 28 elements organized by valence.
History - 1864
Dmitri Mendeleev produced a table based on atomic weights but
arranged 'periodically' with elements with similar properties
under each other. His Periodic Table included the 66 known
elements organized by atomic weights.
1894
William Ramsay discovered the Noble Gases.
1898
Marie and Pierre Curie isolated radium and polonium from
pitchblende.
1900
Ernest Rutherford discovered the source of radioactivity as
decaying atoms.
History - 1913
Henry Moseley determined the atomic number of each of the
elements and modified the 'Periodic Law'.
History - 1940
Edwin McMillan and Philip H. Abelson identify neptunium, the
lightest and first synthesized transuranium element, found in
the products of uranium fission.
History - 1940
Glenn Seaborg synthesised transuranic elements (the elements
after uranium in the periodic table).
Periodic
Table History - The Theory of the Periodic Table
All of the above scientists contributed to the history of the
Periodic Table and
Periodic Chemistry. The following flowchart illustrates the process
of their work, as it does for all aspects of developing a
scientific theory. |
