A Brief History of the Elements

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The ancient Greeks 2,000 years ago thought there were only four elements – earth, air, fire and water. Chemistry was a very primitive affair, since experimental physics was unknown. Instead scientists came to conclusions using reason and deduction. Chemistry progressed very slow and by 1800 there were only about 30 known elements. Research was greatly aided by Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, who laid down the modern idea of an element. He found and termed oxygen in 1778 and hydrogen in 1783. He put together the first extensive list of elements, and helped to reform chemical nomenclature. He was also the first to establish that sulphur – in 1777 - was an element rather than a compound.

Over the next century however, almost all the stable elements present on Earth were discovered. During the Twentieth Century, more elements were discovered, most of them not occurring naturally, but having to be produced artificially and but only existing briefly in the laboratory.

Year of Discovery	Name of Chemical Element	Symbol	Atomic Number
ancient	Copper	Cu	29
ancient	Sulfur	S	16
ancient	Silver	Ag	47
ancient	Tin	Sn	50
ancient	Antimony	Sb	51
ancient	Gold	Au	79
ancient	Mercury	Hg	80
ancient	Lead	Pb	82
~ 1400	Bismuth	Bi	83
1669	Phosphorus	P	15
~ 1694	Carbon	C	6
1735	Iron	Fe	26
1735	Platinum	Pt	78
1751	Nickel	Ni	28
1751	Cobalt	Co	27
1755	Magnesium	Mg	12
1772	Nitrogen	N	7
1774	Oxygen	O	8
1774	Manganese	Mn	25
1774	Chlorine	Cl	17
1774	Chromium	Cr	24
1776	Hydrogen	H	1
1781	Molybdenum	Mo	42
1782	Tellurium	Te	52
1783	Tungsten	W	74
1789	Zirconium	Zr	40
1789	Uranium	U	92
1790	Strontium	Sr	38
1791	Scandium	Sc	21
1794	Yttrium	Y	39
1797	Beryllium	Be	4
1797	Vanadium	V	23
1801	Niobium	Nb	41
1802	Tantalum	Ta	73
1803	Rhodium	Rh	45
1803	Palladium	Pd	46
1803	Cerium	Ce	58
1803	Osmium	Os	76
1803	Iridium	Ir	77
1807	Sodium	Na	11
1807	Potassium	K	19
1808	Boron	B	5
1808	Potassium	K	19
1808	Barium	Ba	56
1811	Iodine	I	53
1817	Lithium	Li	3
1817	Cadmium	Cd	48
1824	Silicon	Si	14
1817	Arsenic	As	33
1825	Aluminum	Al	13
1826	Selenium	Se	34
1829	Thorium	Th	90
1830	Titanium	Ti	22
1839	Lanthanum	La	57
1842	Erbium	Er	68
1843	Terbium	Tb	65
1844	Ruthenium	Ru	44
1860	Cesium	Cs	55
1861	Rubidium	Rb	37
1861	Thallium	Tl	81
1863	Indium	Tn	49
1867	Holmium	Ho	67
1875	Zinc	Zn	30
1878	Ytterbium	Yb	70
1879	Calcium	Ca	20
1879	Samarium	Sm	62
1879	Thulium	Tm	69
1880	Gadolinium	Gd	64
1885	Praseodymium	Pr	59
1885	Neodymium	Nd	60
1886	Fluorine	F	9
1886	Germanium	Ge	32
1886	Gallium	Ga	31
1886	Dysprosium	Dy	66
1894	Argon	Ar	18
1895	Helium	He	2
1898	Neon	Ne	10
1898	Krypton	Kr	36
1898	Xenon	Xe	54
1898	Polonium	Po	84
1898	>Radium	Ra	88
1899	Actinium	Ac	89
1900	Radon	Rn	86
1901	Europium	Eu	63
1907	Lutetium	Lu	71
1913	Protactinium	Pa	91
1923	Hafnium	Hf	72
1925	Rhenium	Re	75
1937	Technetium	Tc	43
1939	Francium	Fr	87
1940	Astatine	At	85
1940	Neptunium	Np	93
1940	Plutonium	Pu	94
1944	Americium	Am	95
1944	Curium	Cm	96
1945	Promethium	Pm	61
1949	Berkelium	Bk	97
1950	Californium	Cf	98
1952	Einsteinium	Es	99
1952	Fermium	Fm	100
1955	Mendelevium	Md	101
1958	Nobelium	No	102
1961	Lawrencium	Lr	103
1964	Rutherfordium	Rf	104
1967	Dubnium	Db	105
1974	Seaborgium	Sg	106
1981	Bohrium	Bh	107
1982	Meitnerium	Mt	109
1984	Hassium	Hs	108
1994	Darmstadtium	Ds	110
1994	Roentgenium	Rg	111
1996	Ununbium	Uub	112
1998	Ununtrium	Uut	113
1999	Ununoctium	Uuo	118
1999	Ununquadium	Uuq	114
2000	Ununhexium	Uuh	116
2004	Ununpentium	Uup	115
unknown	Ununseptium	Uus	117

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A Brief History of the Elements