Battery and Energy Technologies

Finding your Way Around

Sponsors

Free Report

Buying Batteries in China

Woodbank does not monitor or record these emails

More Sponsors

Electropaedia - Discovery of the Elements - Timeline



		Around 350 BC, Aristotle theorised that there were only four elements; earth, air, fire and water. Until the middle ages the rate of identification of new chemical elements remained at about one every thousand years. Curiosity was then at last aroused by the alchemists in their attempts to convert various materials into gold and by the end of the nineteenth century, chemists had discovered almost all the elements, at least the stable ones. In the twentieth century the quest was taken up by physicists and the focus turned to the discovery of sub-atomic particles.

See also the Technology Timeline and the Hall of Fame for a more comprehensive history of technology.

Date	Element	Symbol	Atomic Number	Discoverer	Location / Comments
Antiquity	Carbon	C	6	Unknown
Antiquity	Copper	Cu	29	Chaldeans (Iraq) (10,000 BC)
Antiquity	Sulphur	S	16	Greeks
C.5000 BC	Gold	Au	79	Egyptians
C.5000 BC	Silver	Ag	47	Chaldeans (Iraq), Greeks
C.2500 BC	Iron	Fe	26	Egyptians, Hittites (Turkey)
C.2100 BC	Tin	Sn	50	Egyptians, Incas
C.1600 BC	Antimony	Sb	51	Egyptians, Chaldeans
C.1500 BC	Mercury	Hg	80	Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks
C.1000 BC	Lead	Pb	82	Egyptians
C.0 BC/AD	Zinc	Zn	30	Romans
C.0 BC/AD	Zinc	Zn	30	Paracelsus (German alchemist and physician)	Identified as a metal in 1526
Up to this point, the elements which had been identified either occurred naturally or were easily extracted from their ores by smelting. For over a thousand years no new elements were added to this list. Though some of the remaining undiscovered elements were very scarce, the main reason for the delay in unearthing these new elements was because many of them were much more reactive and were only found in chemical compounds held together with much stronger chemical bonds between the compound's constituent elements. Isolating these new elements depended on knowledge of more complex chemical decomposition or mechanical separation processes which were only developed over later years. Discovery was accelerated in the nineteenth century with the advent of electrical methods. A parallel hiatus in scientific development occurred in the history of mechanics. There were very few theoretical advances between Archimedes' elucidation of Mechanical Advantage in 269 B.C. and Newton's Laws of Motion in 1687.
C.1250 AD	Arsenic	As	33	Albertus Magnus	German monk
C.1500 AD	Bismuth	Bi	83	Basil Valentinus	German monk Described in 1500
C.1500 AD	Bismuth	Bi	83	Claude François Geoffroy	French chemist Identified in 1753
1669 AD	Phosphorus	P	15	Henning Brand	German alchemist
Pre 1700	Platinum	Pt	78	South American Indians
				Antonio de Ulloa	Spanish explorer and administrator Identified in 1741
				Charles Wood	British chemist Identified in 1741
1735	Cobalt	Co	27	Georg Brandt	Swedish chemist & mineralogist
1751	Nickel	Ni	28	Axel Fredrik Cronstedt	Swedish chemist & mineralogist
1755	Magnesium	Mg	12	Joseph Black	Scottish physicist & chemist
1766	Hydrogen	H	1	Henry Cavendish	English aristocrat
1772	Nitrogen	N	7	Daniel Rutherford	Scottish chemist & physician
1772/4	Oxygen	O	8	Karl Wilhelm Scheele	Swedish chemist at Uppsala University
1772/4	Oxygen	O	8	Joseph Priestley	English chemist & philosopher
1774	Chlorine	Cl	17	Scheele
1774	Manganese	Mn	25	Johann Gottlieb Gahn	Swedish chemist
1780	Chromium	Cr	24	Louis-Nicholas Vauquelin	French pharmacist
1781	Molybdenum	Mo	42	Peter Hjelm	Swedish chemist
1783	Tellurium	Te	52	Franz Müller von Reichenstein	Hungarian mineralogist
1783	Tungsten	W	74	Juan & Fausto Elhuyar	Spanish chemists & mineralogists
1787	Strontium	Sr	38	Adair Crawford	Scottish physician Discovery 1787
				Thomas Charles Hope	Identified 1791in Edinburgh
				Davy	Isolated 1808
1789	Zirconium	Zr	40	Martin Heinrich Klaproth	German chemist & mineralogist
1789	Uranium	U	92	Klaproth	Discovered Uranium oxide (Assumed to be the element)
1789	Uranium	U	92	Eugène Péligot	French chemist Isolated the element in 1841
1791	Titanium	Ti	22	William Gregor	English vicar
1791	Titanium	Ti	22	Klaproth	Identified in 1795
1794	Yttrium	Y	39	Johan Gadolin	Finnish chemist & mineralogist
1797	Beryllium	Be	4	Vauquelin	French mineralogist Discovered 1797
				Friedrich Wöhler	German chemist Isolated 1828 in Berlin
				Antoine-Alexander-Brutus Bussy	French chemist Isolated 1828 in Paris
1801	Vanadium	V	23	Andrés Manuel del Rio	Spanish-born Mexican scientist & naturalist Mexican College of Mines Initilly named Panchromium Later named Erythronium
				Hippolyte-Victor Collet-Descotils Baron Alexander von Humboldt	French chemist supportrd by Prussiian noble, challenged del Rio's claim in 1805. Said to be Chromium
				Nils Gabriel Sefström	Rediscovered in 1831 and named Vanadium by Swedish chemist
1801	Niobium	Nb	41	Charles Hatchett	English chemist
1802	Tantalum	Ta	73	Anders Gustaf Ekeberg	Swedish chemist
1803	Rhodium	Rh	45	William Hyde Wollaston	English chemist & physician Cambridge
1803	Palladium	Pd	46	Wollaston
1803	Osmium	Os	76	Smithson Tennant	English chemist Cambridge
1803	Indium	In	77	Tennant
1803	Cerium	Ce	58	Jöns Jacob Berzelius & Wilhelm Hisinger	Swedish chemist & Swedish geologist At Uppsala University
1807	Potassium	K	19	Humphry Davy	English chemist & physicist
1807	Sodium	Na	11	Davy
1808	Boron	B	5	Louis-Josef Gay-Lussac & Louis-Jacques Thenard	French chemists
1808	Boron	B	5	Davy
1808	Calcium	Ca	20	Davy
1808	Ruthenium	Ru	44	Jedrzej Andrei Sniadecki	Polish chemist Discovered 1808 at Vilno (not confirmed)
1808	Ruthenium	Ru	44	Karl Klaus	Russian chemist Isolated 1844 at Kazan State University
1808	Barium	Ba	56	Davy
1811	Iodine	I	53	Bernard Courtois	French chemist
1815	Thorium	Th	90	Berzelius
1817	Lithium	Li	3	Johan August Arfvedson	Swedish chemist Uppsala
1817	Selenium	Se	34	Berzelius
1817	Cadmium	Cd	48	Friedrich Strohmeyer	German chemist
1817	Cadmium	Cd	48	Karl Samuel Leberecht Hermann	German chemist
1824	Silicon	Si	14	Berzelius
1825	Aluminium	Al	13	Hans Christian Øersted	Danish physicist Copenhagen
1825/6	Bromine	Br	35	Carl Löwig	Heidelberg, Germany
1825/6	Bromine	Br	35	Antoine-Jérôme Balard	Montpelier, France
1839	Lanthanum	La	57	Carl Mosander	Swedish chemist & mineralogist
1842	Erbium	Er	68	Mosander
1843	Terbium	Tb	65	Mosander
1860	Caesium	Cs	55	Robert Bunsen & Gustav Kirchhoff	German chemists & German physicist at Heidelberg University
1861	Rubidium	Rb	37	Bunsen & Kirchhoff
1861	Thallium	Tl	81	William Crookes	English chemist London
1863	Induim	In	77	Ferdinand Reich & Hieronymus Richter	German chemists
1868	Helium	He	2	Pierre Jules César Janssen	French astronomer
1868	Helium	He	2	Joseph Norman Lockyer	English astronomer
1869 Periodic Table of the Elements proposed independently by Meyer and Mendeleyev. (See a modern example of the Periodic Table)
1871	Gallium	Ga	31	Dmitriy Ivanovich Mendeleyev	Russian chemist Predicted 1871
1871	Gallium	Ga	31	Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran	French chemist Discovered 1875
1871	Scandium	Sc	21	Mendeleyev	Predicted 1871
1871	Scandium	Sc	21	Lars Nilson	Swedish chemist Discovered 1879
1871	Germanium	Ge	32	Mendeleyev	Predicted 1871
1871	Germanium	Ge	32	Clemens Winkler	German chemist Discovered 1886 Freiburg University
1871	Protactinium	Pa	91	Mendeleyev	Predicted 1871
				Kasimir Fajans & Otto Göhring	Karlsruhe, Germany 1913
				Otto Hahn & Lise Meitner	Kaiser-Wilhem Institute, Berlin 1918
				Frederick Soddy, John Cranston & Andrew Fleck	Glasgow, Scotland 1918
1878	Holmium	Ho	67	Per Teodor Cleve	Swedish chemist Uppsala
1878	Holmium	Ho	67	Marc Delafontaine & Jacques-Louis Soret	Swiss chemists Geneva
1878	Ytterbium	Yb	70	Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac	Swiss chemist Geneva
1879	Samarium	Sm	62	de Boisbaudran
1879	Thulium	Tm	69	Cleve
1880	Gadolinium	Gd	64	de Marignac
1885	Praseodymium	Pr	59	Carl Auer Freiherr von Welsbach	Austrian scientist & inventor
1885	Neodymium	Nd	60	von Welsbach
1886	Fluorine	F	9	Joseph Henri Moissan	French chemist Paris
1886	Dysprosium	Dy	66	de Boisbaudran
1894	Argon	Ar	18	John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh) & William Ramsay	English physicist & Scottish chemist Cambridge & UC London
1895	Helium	He	2	Ramsay	University College London
1898	Krypton	Kr	36	Ramsay & Morris William Travers	Scottish & English chemists UC London
1898	Neon	Ne	10	Ramsay & Travers	UC London
1898	Xenon	Xe	54	Ramsay & Travers	UC London
1898	Polonium	Po	84	Marie Curie	Polish-French physicist & chemist Sorbonne, Paris
1898	Radium	Ra	88	Marie & Pierre Curie
1899	Actinium	Ac	89	André Debierne	French chemist Paris
1900	Radon	Rn	86	Friedrich Ernst Dorn	German physicist Halle University
1901	Europium	Eu	63	Eugène Anatole Demarçay	French chemist
1907	Lutetium	Lu	71	Georges Urbain	French chemist Sorbonne, Paris
				Charles James	English chemist University of New Hampshire, USA
				Karl Auer	Austrian chemist Germany
1923	Hafnium	Hf	72	Dirk Coster & György Hevesey	Danish and Hungarian chemists University of Copenhagen
1925	Rhenium	Re	75	Walter Noddack, Ida Tacke & Otto Carl Berg	Berlin, Germany
1925	Technetium (Masurium)	Tc	43	Noddack, Tacke & Berg	Berlin, Germany
1938	Promethium	Pm	61	H. B. Law, J. D. Pool, Kurbatov & L. L. Quill	(Claimed 1938) Ohio State University
1938	Promethium	Pm	61	J.A. Marinsky, L.E. Glendenin, Charles D. Coryell	(Proved 1945) Oak Ridge Labs, Tennessee
1939	Francium	Fr	87	Marguerite Perey	Curie Institute, Paris
1940	Astatine	At	85	Dale R. Corson, K. R. Mackenzie & Emilio Segré (Italian)	University of California
The following elements with atomic numbers greater than 92 (Uranium) are known as the Transuranium Elements. They are all radioactive and apart from Neptunium and Plutonium, none of them occur naturally on earth having half-lives much shorter than the age of the earth.
1940	Neptunium	Np	93	Edwin M. McMillan & Philip H. Abelson	Berkeley, California
1940	Plutonium	Pu	94	Glenn T. Seaborg, Arthur C. Wahl, Joseph W. Kennedy, Michael Cefola & McMillan	Lawrence Radiation Labs (LRL), University of California, Berkeley
1944	Curium	Cm	96	Seaborg, Ralph A. James & Albert Ghiorso	LRL, Berkeley
1944	Americium	Am	95	Seaborg, Leon O. Morgan et al.	Argonne National Lab, Chicago
1949	Berkelium	Bk	97	Ghiorso, Seaborg, Stanley G. Thompson & Kenneth Street	LRL, Berkeley
1950	Californium	Cf	98	Ghiorso, Seaborg et al.	LRL, Berkeley
1952	Einsteinium	Es	99	Ghiorso et al.	LRL, Berkeley
1952	Einsteinium	Es	99	G. R. Choppin et al.	Los Aamos National Lab
1952	Fermium	Fm	100	Ghiorso with a large team	LRL, Berkeley, jointly with Argonne National Lab and Los Alamos National Lab
The following elements with atomic numbers greater than 100 are known as the Transfermium Elements. They have very short half-lives, sometimes as short as fractions of a second and in many cases only a few atoms have been made.
1955	Mendelevium	Md	101	Ghiorso, Bernard Harvey et al.	LRL, Berkeley
1956	Nobelium	No	102	Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) team	JNIR, Dubna, USSR 1956
1956	Nobelium	No	102	Ghiorso, Seaborg, John R. Walton &Torbjørn Sikkeland	LRL, Berkeley 1958
1961	Lawrencium	Lr	103	Ghiorso, Almon Larsh, Robert M. Latimer et al.	LRL, Berkeley
1964	Rutherfordium	Rf	104	György Flerov et al.	JNIR, Dubna, USSR
1964	Rutherfordium	Rf	104	Ghiorso et al.	LRL, Berkeley
1967	Dubnium	Db	105	Flerov et al.	JNIR, Dubna, USSR 1967
1967	Dubnium	Db	105	Ghiorso et al.	LRL, Berkeley 1969
1974	Seaborgium	Sg	106	Flerov,Yuri Organessian et al.	JNIR, Dubna, USSR
1974	Seaborgium	Sg	106	Ghiorso et al.	LRL, Berkeley
1976	Bohrium	Bh	107	Organessian et al.	JNIR, Dubna, USSR 1976
1976	Bohrium	Bh	107	Peter Armbruster, Gottfried Münzenberg et al.	GSI Labs, Darmstadt, Germany 1981
1982	Meitnerium	Mt	109	Armbruster, Münzenberg et al.	GSI Labs, Darmstadt, Germany
1984	Hassium	Hs	108	Armbruster, Münzenberg et al.	GSI Labs, Darmstadt, Germany
1994	Darmstadtium	Ds	110	Armbruster, Jorge Rigol et al.	GSI Labs, Darmstadt, Germany
1994	Roentgenium	Rg	111	Armbruster et al.	Place-holder name GSI Labs, Darmstadt, Germany
1996	Copernicum	Cn	112	Armbruster, Sigurd Hofmann et al.	GSI Labs, Darmstadt, Germany
1998	Flerovium	Fl	114	Organessian, Vladimir Utyonkov et al.	JNIR
1998	Flerovium	Fl	114	Kenton Moody et al.	Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), California
2001	Livermorium	Lv	116	Organessian, Utyonkov, Moody et al.	Joint JNIR & LLNL teams
2004	Ununtrium	Uut	113	Organessian et al.	Place-holder name Joint JNIR & LLNL teams
2004	Ununpentium	Uup	115	Organessian et al.	Place-holder name Joint JNIR & LLNL teams
2006	Ununoctium	Uuo	118	Organessian et al.	Place-holder name Joint JNIR & LLNL teams
2010	Ununseptium	Uus	117	Organessian, Jim Roberto et al.	Place-holder name Joint ONRL, LLNL, JNIR teams
	Ununennium	Uue	119	Robert Smolanczuk (Predicted)	Place-holder name

Battery and Energy Technologies

Electropaedia - Discovery of the Elements - Timeline

Date

Element

Atomic Number

Discoverer

Location / Comments