History of the Modern Periodic Table

Before written history

people were aware of some of the elements in the periodic table like
gold (Au) silver (Ag) copper (Cu) lead (Pb) tin (Sn) mercury (Hg)

Hennig Brand (1649)

German alchemist Discovered the element phosphorus (P) through scientific inquiry

Antoine Lavoisier (1789)

French chemist-physicist Arranged the elements into groups of simple substances which will not decompose by any means

John Dalton (1808-1827)

English chemist-physicist Published his New System of Chemical Philosophy wherein he calculated the first relative masses of atoms and compounds

John Daltons Chart of Elements

Jacob Berzelius (1828)

Swedish chemist improved the work of Dalton and published a table of atomic weights with 32 elements

Johann Dobereiner (1817-1829)

German chemist proposes the Law of Triads in arranging the periodic table

he noticed that the atomic mass of strontium (87.62g) was halfway between the masses of calcium (40.08g) and barium (137.33g) These elements possessed similar chemical properties

Leopold Gmelin (1843)

German chemist published Handbook der Chemie

his book contains three tetrads and even a pentad - nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony and bismuth - which we now recognize as group VA of the pblock of the periodic table

Stanislao Cannizzaro (1858)

Italian chemist settled one essential property common to all in classifying elements, their atomic mass

Beguyer De Chancourtois (1862 )

French geologist arranged the elements by increasing atomic masses

he placed his arrangement in a cylinder and divided it into 16 parts, which was based on the atomic mass of oxygen. he called this as telluric screw it was the first ever geometric representation of the periodic law

John Newlands (1863)

English chemist proposed the Law of Octaves in arranging the periodic table.

he noticed that when the first 20 elements were arranged in increasing atomic masses, there will be similarities in the properties of the first and the eighth element in the period but this law was no longer applicable after the element calcium.

Lothar Meyer (1869)

German chemist published a periodic table based from the idea that properties of elements are periodic function of their atomic masses

Dmitri Mendeleev (1869)

Russian chemist published a periodic table based from the idea that properties of elements are periodic function of their atomic masses

Classical Periodic Law

Properties of elements are periodic function of their atomic masses.

the periodic table of Meyer and Mendeleev has vacant elements which are yet to be discovered but Mendeleev had already predicted some physical properties of these missing elements one good example of this is the missing element between silicon and tin, he predicted that the property of this missing element will be midway between silicon and tin so he named this as ekasilicon.

Clemens Winkler (1886)

German chemist discovered germanium, an element which actually matches the prediction of Mendeleev, eka-silicon

Henry Moseley (1913)

English physicist noticed a connection between the atomic number of an element and the frequency of X-rays resulting from the bombardment of an element with a high energy electron.

he found out that atomic number increases in the same manner as the atomic masses with some few exemptions

Modern Periodic Law

Properties of elements are periodic function of their atomic numbers.

Glenn Seaborg (1951)

American chemist discovered the transuranium elements with atomic numbers 94-102.

the completion of the actinide series allows Seaborg to redesign the periodic table into it current form both the lanthanide and actinide series of elements were placed under the rest of the periodic table, these elements technically should be placed between the alkaline earth metals and the transition metals; however, since this would make the periodic table too wide, they were placed below the rest of the elements.

Modern Periodic Table of Elements

Philip Stewarts

Spiral form of the Periodic Table

Circular Form of the Periodic Table

The periodic spiral of Prof. Theodore Benfey

Dr. Timothy Stowes Physicists Periodic Table

A triangular long-form Periodic Table by Emil Zmaczynski