Happy 150th birthday, periodic table

The periodic table is an icon of science. Its rows and columns provide a tidy way of showcasing the elements that make up the universe.

It seems obvious today, but it wasn’t to early chemists. That changed when Dmitri

Mendeleev pondered ways to group the elements.

The Russian chemist spotted an elegant and powerful pattern: certain elements exhibited similar traits, and these traits varied regularly – or periodically – with increasing atomic weight.

So on February 17, 1869, Mendeleev published a chart of the 60-odd elements known at the time, sorted by their weights and properties. It is one of the greatest scientific contributions ever.

The journal Science is marking the 150th anniversary with a special issue about the table. Contributor Michael Gordin, a science historian at Princeton, answered questions. known at the time. Previous people hadn’t done all of them because they weren’t sure about the atomic weights. Mendeleev guessed their weights.

Secondly, he predicted the existence of new elements. When those elements were discovered, his table stood out. Petersburg but travelled widely.

He was boisterous, funny, quick to lose his temper, but also charismatic and engaging. He was politically active. He was in the papers a lot.

After he finished the table, he kept all of his mail because he knew he would be famous.