People

Lived

1748–1795

Element

Sr

Discovered strontium in 1790.

Albert Einstein

Lived

1879–1955

Element

Es

Element 99, einsteinium, is named after him. It was first found in the debris of a 1952 nuclear test.

Albert Ghiorso

Lived

1915–2010

Elements

BkCfEsFmMdNoLrRfSg

Discovered berkelium (1949), californium (1950), einsteinium (1952), fermium (1953), mendelevium (1955), nobelium (1963), lawrencium (1965), rutherfordium (1964) and seaborgium (1974).

Albertus Magnus

Lived

1200–1280

Element

As

Discovered arsenic.

Alexandre-Émile Béguyer de Chancourtois

Lived

1820–1886

Table

de Chancourtois

Wound the elements around a cylinder in 1862 so that similar ones lined up: the first periodic arrangement.

Alfred Nobel

Lived

1833–1896

Element

No

The inventor of dynamite, who founded the Nobel Prizes. Element 102, nobelium, is named after him.

Anders Gustaf Ekeberg

Lived

1767–1813

Element

Ta

Discovered tantalum in 1802.

André-Louis Debierne

Lived

1874–1949

Element

Ac

Discovered actinium in 1899.

Andreas Sigismund Marggraf

Lived

1709–1782

Element

Zn

Discovered zinc in 1746.

Andrés Manuel del Río

Lived

1764–1849

Element

V

Discovered vanadium in 1801.

Antoine Henri Becquerel

Lived

1852–1908

Element

U

Discovered radioactivity in uranium salts in 1896.

Antoine Lavoisier

Lived

1743–1794

Elements

HO

Named oxygen and hydrogen, and showed that burning is a reaction with oxygen.

Antoine-Jérôme Balard

Lived

1802–1876

Element

Br

Discovered bromine in 1826.

Arthur Wahl

Lived

1917–2006

Element

Pu

Discovered plutonium in 1941.

Axel Fredrik Cronstedt

Lived

1722–1765

Element

Ni

Discovered nickel in 1751.

Lived

1777–1838

Element

I

Discovered iodine in 1811.

Carl Auer von Welsbach

Lived

1858–1929

Elements

PrNd

Discovered praseodymium and neodymium in 1885.

Carl Gustaf Mosander

Lived

1797–1858

Elements

LaTbEr

Discovered lanthanum (1839), terbium (1843) and erbium (1843).

Carl Jacob Löwig

Lived

1803–1890

Element

Br

Discovered bromine in 1826.

Carl Wilhelm Scheele

Lived

1742–1786

Elements

OCl

Discovered oxygen and chlorine in 1774.

Lived

1886–1948

Element

Tc

Discovered technetium in 1937.

Charles D. Coryell

Lived

1912–1971

Element

Pm

Discovered promethium in 1945.

Charles Hatchett

Lived

1765–1847

Element

Nb

Discovered niobium in 1801.

Charles James

Lived

1880–1928

Element

Lu

Discovered lutetium in 1907.

Charles Janet

Lived

1849–1932

Table

Janet’s left-step table

Drew the left-step periodic table in 1928, ordering the elements by how their electron shells fill.

Charles Martin Hall

Lived

1863–1914

Element

Al

Found the electrolytic process that made aluminium cheap.

Clemens Winkler

Lived

1838–1904

Element

Ge

Discovered germanium in 1886.

Dale R. Corson

Lived

1914–2012

Element

At

Discovered astatine in 1940.

Daniel Rutherford

Lived

1749–1819

Element

N

Discovered nitrogen in 1772.

Dirk Coster

Lived

1889–1950

Element

Hf

Announced hafnium in 1923.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Lived

1834–1907

Element

Md

Table

Mendeleev’s first table

Drew up the periodic table in 1869, leaving gaps for elements still to be found. Element 101, mendelevium, is named after him.

Edwin McMillan

Lived

1907–1991

Elements

NpPu

Announced neptunium in 1940 and discovered plutonium in 1941.

Emilio G. Segrè

Lived

1905–1989

Elements

TcAt

Discovered technetium (1937) and astatine (1940).

Enrico Fermi

Lived

1901–1954

Elements

UFm

Led the team that ran the first nuclear reactor, on uranium, in 1942. Element 100, fermium, is named after him.

Ernest Lawrence

Lived

1901–1958

Element

Lr

Invented the cyclotron, the machine behind many of the first artificial elements. Element 103, lawrencium, is named after him.

Ernest Rutherford

Lived

1871–1937

Element

Rf

Discovered the atomic nucleus. Element 104, rutherfordium, is named after him.

Eugène-Anatole Demarçay

Lived

1852–1903

Element

Eu

Discovered europium in 1901.

Fausto Elhuyar

Lived

1755–1833

Element

W

Discovered tungsten in 1783.

Ferdinand Reich

Lived

1799–1882

Element

In

Discovered indium in 1863.

Lived

1742–1825

Element

Te

Discovered tellurium in 1783.

Friedrich Ernst Dorn

Lived

1848–1916

Element

Rn

Discovered radon in 1900.

Friedrich Stromeyer

Lived

1776–1835

Element

Cd

Discovered cadmium in 1817.

Lived

1902–1980

Elements

BaU

With Otto Hahn, found barium among the products of bombarded uranium: the first sign of nuclear fission.

Lived

1694–1768

Element

Co

Discovered cobalt in 1739.

George de Hevesy

Lived

1885–1966

Element

Hf

Announced hafnium in 1923.

Georges Urbain

Lived

1872–1938

Element

Lu

Discovered lutetium in 1907.

Georgy Flyorov

Lived

1913–1990

Elements

NoLrRfFl

Founded the Dubna laboratory where many of the heaviest elements were made. Flerovium, element 114, is named after the laboratory that bears his name.

Glenn Seaborg

Lived

1912–1999

Elements

PuAmCmBkCfSg

Co-discovered plutonium and several heavier elements. Element 106, seaborgium, was named after him in his lifetime.

Lived

1940–2024

Elements

BhHsMtDsRg

Discovered bohrium (1981), hassium (1984), meitnerium (1982), darmstadtium (1994) and roentgenium (1994).

Gustav Kirchhoff

Lived

1824–1887

Elements

RbCs

Discovered rubidium (1861) and caesium (1860).

Lived

1857–1937

Element

Ra

Announced radium in 1898.

Hans Christian Ørsted

Lived

1777–1851

Element

Al

Discovered aluminium in 1825.

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes

Lived

1853–1926

Elements

HeHg

First liquefied helium, then found that mercury loses all electrical resistance when cooled in it.

Hennig Brand

Lived

1630–1710

Element

P

Discovered phosphorus in 1669.

Henri Moissan

Lived

1852–1907

Element

F

Isolated fluorine in 1886.

Henry Cavendish

Lived

1731–1810

Element

H

Discovered hydrogen in 1766.

Henry Moseley

Lived

1887–1915

Elements

TcPmHfRe

Showed that every element has an atomic number, and so revealed the gaps for elements 43, 61, 72 and 75.

Hieronymous Theodor Richter

Lived

1824–1898

Element

In

Discovered indium in 1863.

Humphry Davy

Lived

1778–1829

Elements

BNaKCaBa

Discovered boron (1808), sodium (1807), calcium (1808) and barium (1808) and isolated potassium in 1807.

Ida Noddack

Lived

1896–1978

Element

Re

Discovered rhenium in 1925.

Jack Kilby

Lived

1923–2005

Element

Ge

Built the first integrated circuit, on a sliver of germanium, in 1958.

Jacob Akiba Marinsky

Lived

1918–2005

Element

Pm

Discovered promethium in 1945.

Jacques-Louis Soret

Lived

1827–1890

Element

Ho

Discovered holmium in 1878.

Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac

Lived

1817–1894

Elements

GdYb

Discovered gadolinium (1880) and ytterbium (1878).

Johan August Arfwedson

Lived

1792–1841

Element

Li

Discovered lithium in 1817.

Johan Gadolin

Lived

1760–1852

Elements

YGd

Discovered yttrium, the first of the rare earths. Gadolinium is named after him.

Johan Gottlieb Gahn

Lived

1745–1818

Element

Mn

Discovered manganese in 1774.

Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner

Lived

1780–1849

Table

Döbereiner’s triads

Noticed in 1829 that elements fall into families of three, the triads, with the middle one's weight between the other two.

John Bardeen

Lived

1908–1991

Element

Ge

Co-invented the transistor, in germanium, in 1947.

Lived

1907–1988

Table

Racetrack

Designed the racetrack periodic table of 1933.

John William Strutt

Lived

1842–1919

Element

Ar

Announced argon in 1894.

Jöns Jacob Berzelius

Lived

1779–1848

Elements

SiSeCeTh

Discovered silicon (1824), selenium (1817), cerium (1803) and thorium (1829).

Joseph Black

Lived

1728–1799

Element

Mg

Discovered magnesium in 1755.

Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac

Lived

1778–1850

Element

B

Discovered boron in 1808.

Joseph Priestley

Lived

1733–1804

Element

O

Discovered oxygen in 1774.

Joseph W. Kennedy

Lived

1916–1957

Element

Pu

Discovered plutonium in 1941.

Lived

1754–1796

Element

W

Discovered tungsten in 1783.

Karl Ernst Claus

Lived

1796–1864

Element

Ru

Discovered ruthenium in 1844.

Kazimierz Fajans

Lived

1887–1975

Element

Pa

Discovered protactinium in 1913.

Kenneth Ross MacKenzie

Lived

1912–2002

Element

At

Discovered astatine in 1940.

Lived

1920–2006

Element

Cf

Discovered californium in 1950.

Kosuke Morita

Lived

Born 1957

Element

Nh

Discovered nihonium in 2004.

Lars Fredrik Nilson

Lived

1840–1899

Element

Sc

Discovered scandium in 1879.

Lawrence E. Glendenin

Lived

1918–2008

Element

Pm

Discovered promethium in 1945.

Lise Meitner

Lived

1878–1968

Elements

PaMt

Co-discovered protactinium and explained nuclear fission. Element 109, meitnerium, is named after her.

Louis Jacques Thénard

Lived

1777–1857

Element

B

Discovered boron in 1808.

Louis Nicolas Vauquelin

Lived

1763–1829

Elements

BeCr

Discovered beryllium (1797) and chromium (1798).

Marc Delafontaine

Lived

1838–1911

Element

Ho

Discovered holmium in 1878.

Marguerite Perey

Lived

1909–1975

Element

Fr

Discovered francium in 1939.

Marie Curie

Lived

1867–1934

Elements

PoRaCm

Discovered polonium and radium. Curium, element 96, is named after her and Pierre.

Martin Heinrich Klaproth

Lived

1743–1817

Elements

ZrU

Discovered zirconium and uranium in 1789.

Morris Travers

Lived

1872–1961

Elements

NeKrXe

Discovered neon, krypton and xenon in 1898.

Nicolaus Copernicus

Lived

1473–1543

Element

Cn

Put the Sun, not the Earth, at the centre of the planets. Element 112, copernicium, is named after him.

Niels Bohr

Lived

1885–1962

Element

Bh

Explained how electrons sit in shells around the nucleus. Element 107, bohrium, is named after him.

Norman Lockyer

Lived

1836–1920

Element

He

Saw the Sun's unexplained yellow line in 1868 and named the element behind it helium.

Lived

1889–1915

Element

Pa

Discovered protactinium in 1913.

Otto Berg

Lived

1874–1939

Element

Re

Discovered rhenium in 1925.

Otto Hahn

Lived

1879–1968

Element

Pa

Discovered protactinium in 1913.

Lived

1925–2024

Table

Benfey spiral

Laid the elements out on a continuous spiral in 1964, with loops for the transition metals and rare earths.

Paul Héroult

Lived

1863–1914

Element

Al

Found the same electrolytic aluminium process as Charles Martin Hall, in the same year.

Lived

1910–1987

Table

Giguère

Designed the three-dimensional periodic table of 1965.

Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran

Lived

1838–1912

Elements

GaSmDy

Discovered gallium (1875), samarium (1879) and dysprosium (1886).

Per Teodor Cleve

Lived

1840–1905

Elements

HeHoTm

Isolated helium in 1895 and discovered holmium (1878) and thulium (1879).

Lived

1931–2024

Elements

BhHsMtDsRg

Discovered bohrium (1981), hassium (1984), meitnerium (1982), darmstadtium (1994) and roentgenium (1994).

Peter Jacob Hjelm

Lived

1746–1813

Element

Mo

Discovered molybdenum in 1781.

Philip Abelson

Lived

1913–2004

Element

Np

Announced neptunium in 1940.

Table

Chemical galaxy

Drew the Chemical Galaxy in 2004, setting the elements on spiral arms like the stars of a galaxy.

Pierre Curie

Lived

1859–1906

Elements

PoRaCm

Discovered polonium and radium with Marie Curie. Curium is named after them both.

Pierre Janssen

Lived

1824–1907

Element

He

Saw a yellow line in the Sun's spectrum during the 1868 eclipse: the first sign of helium.

Robert Bunsen

Lived

1811–1899

Elements

RbCs

Discovered rubidium (1861) and caesium (1860).

Lived

1910–1994

Element

F

Discovered Teflon, a fluorine-rich polymer, by accident in 1938.

Sigurd Hofmann

Lived

1944–2022

Elements

DsCn

Discovered darmstadtium (1994) and copernicium (1996).

Lived

1761–1815

Elements

OsIr

Discovered osmium and iridium in 1803.

Stanley Gerald Thompson

Lived

1912–1976

Elements

BkCf

Discovered berkelium (1949) and californium (1950).

Thomas Edison

Lived

1847–1931

Element

C

Made the first practical incandescent lamp, with a filament of carbonised cotton thread.

Table

Stowe

Drew a physicist’s periodic table in 1989, arranging the elements by their quantum numbers in stacked layers.

Tracy Hall

Lived

1919–2008

Element

C

Made the first diamonds that could be reproduced in the laboratory, at General Electric in 1954.

Walter Houser Brattain

Lived

1902–1987

Element

Ge

Co-invented the transistor, in germanium, in 1947.

Walter Noddack

Lived

1893–1960

Element

Re

Discovered rhenium in 1925.

Wilhelm Hisinger

Lived

1766–1852

Element

Ce

Discovered cerium in 1803.

Wilhelm Röntgen

Lived

1845–1923

Element

Rg

Discovered X-rays in 1895. Element 111, roentgenium, is named after him.

William Crookes

Lived

1832–1919

Element

Tl

Discovered thallium in 1861.

William Gregor

Lived

1761–1817

Element

Ti

Discovered titanium in 1791.

William Hyde Wollaston

Lived

1766–1828

Elements

RhPd

Discovered rhodium and palladium in 1803.

William Ramsay

Lived

1852–1916

Elements

HeNeArKrXe

Isolated helium in 1895, discovered neon, krypton and xenon in 1898 and announced argon in 1894.

Yuri Oganessian

Lived

Born 1933

Elements

FlMcLvTsOg

Led the Dubna team that made elements 114 to 118. Element 118, oganesson, is named after him.