Have you ever wondered how the Periodic Table came to be created, or when the first element was discovered? This infographic from alansfactoryoutlet.com takes you on a journey through time as the many elements that make up the periodic table were discovered; including when, where, and by who they were discovered.
A handful of elements were found thousands of years ago, with copper going as far back as 9000 B.C.E, but it wasn’t until the 1700’s that the Periodic Table really started getting filled in. It was created in 1869 by Dmitri Mendeleev, who had the foresight to leave blank spots for elements that had yet to be discovered.
If only he knew of the elements that were to be discovered the following century! While the Periodic Table was filled in with many elements throughout the 1700s and 1800s, the elements discovered in the latter half of the 20th century were in a field all their own. Scientists started working on nuclear weapons, which led to them working with much bigger atoms and ultimately the discovery of a whole new set of elements!