Here’s a fun visualization from Jamie Gallagher, showing the Periodic Table of Elements over time, basically tracing the discovery of different elements over the last 300 years. I like the idea of using elements as time markers, and am considering replacing the phrase, “I am older than dirt,” with, “I am older than Seaborgium.”
Discussion
6 Thoughts on "300 Years of Element Discovery"
How fun. I wish I knew more about the history that pushed some of those leaps forward. Also worth noting that P’s 350th discovery anniversary is this year!
At one time I was involved in publishing the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. We had a first edition in the office library and the periodic table was not only incorrect but contained only 12 elements. https://www.google.com/search?q=periodic+table+1919&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=5Yxvf7Yl11jqjM%253A%252CSDRD5NEmOLPjRM%252C_&usg=AI4_-kS8-fSo2iZsuJwhYUK_DcToByLDlQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjgts7VgubfAhVPLKwKHf5pCWAQ9QEwBXoECAMQDg#imgrc=5Yxvf7Yl11jqjM:
This is clear, colorful (as is the table), and engaging. Thank you!
Related and rather amazing:
“It took nearly a century of trial and error for human scientists to organize the periodic table of elements, arguably one of the greatest scientific achievements in chemistry … A new artificial intelligence (AI) program developed by Stanford physicists accomplished the same feat in just a few hours.”
https://news.stanford.edu/2018/06/25/ai-recreates-chemistrys-periodic-table-elements/
It makes me wish that I took my university chemistry exams in the early 1700s! 🙂
Yes Rob-Quantum computing! The program on Einstein’s equation was shared with reference to this group utilizing artificial intelligence and the process of quantum computation-it is incredibly amazing.