" 

 == Table formatting? == 
 Trying to cram all that Notes text into a narrow column messes up the table. How about something like this instead: 
 {| class=""wikitable"" 
 |- 
 !rowspan=2| Z 
 !rowspan=2| Elementname 
 ! | Firstobserved orpredicted 
 ! | Firstreport ofcharacterization(widely recognized) 
 ! | Firstisolation(widely known) 
 ! | Firstobserverer 
 ! | First personto report characterization(usually accepted discoverer) 
 ! | Firstisolator 
 |- 
 !colspan=6| Notes 
 |- 
 |rowspan=2| 33 
 |rowspan=2| Arsenic 
 | 800 CE (ca.) 
 | 
 | 800 CE (ca.) 
 | Geber 
 | 
 | Geber 
 |- 
 |colspan=6| Discovered and isolated by Geber ca. 800 CE.George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science (cf. Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq (1997), Quotations From Famous Historians of Science, Cyberistan) Albertus Magnus was the first European to isolate the element in 1250. In 1649, Johann Schröder published two ways of preparing elemental arsenic. 
 |- 
 |rowspan=2| 51 
 |rowspan=2| Antimony 
 | 800 (ca.) 
 | 
 | 800 (ca.) 
 | Geber 
 | 
 | Geber 
 |- 
 |colspan=6| Discovered and isolated by Geber ca. 800 CE. Basilius Valentinus was the first European to describe the element around 1450. First description of a procedure for isolating elemental antimony in 1540 by Vannoccio Biringuccio. 
 |- 
 |rowspan=2| 83 
 |rowspan=2| Bismuth 
 | 800 (ca.) 
 | 
 | 1753 
 | Geber 
 | 
 | Claude François Geoffroy 
 |- 
 |colspan=6| Discovered by Geber ca. 800.Robert Briffault (1938), The Making of Humanity, p. 195 Later described in writings attributed to Basilius Valentinus around 1450. Definitively identified by Claude François Geoffroy in 1753. 
 |- 
 |rowspan=2| 30    
 |rowspan=2| Zinc    
 | 1526 
 | 
 | 1746 
 | Paracelsus  
 | 
 | Andreas Sigismund Marggraf 
 |- 
 |colspan=6| Identified as a unique metal by the alchemist Paracelsus but was extracted as a metal since antiquity (by Indian metallurgists before 100 BCE), but the true nature of this metal was not understood in ancient times.http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/elem/zn.html 
 |- 
 |rowspan=2| 15 
 |rowspan=2| Phosphorus 
 | 1669 
 | 
 | 1669 
 | Hennig Brand 
 | 
 | Hennig Brand 
 |- 
 |colspan=6| Prepared from urine, it was the first element to be chemically discovered. http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/elem/p.html 
 |- 
 |rowspan=2| 27 
 |rowspan=2| Cobalt 
 | 1732 
 | 
 | ? 
 | Georg Brandt 
 | 
 | ? 
 |- 
 |colspan=6| Proved that the blue color of glass is due to a new kind of metal and not bismuth as thought previously.http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/elem/co.html 
 |- 
 |rowspan=2| 78 
 |rowspan=2| Platinum 
 | 1735 
 | 
 | 1735 
 | Antonio de Ulloa 
 | 
 | Antonio de Ulloa 
 |- 
 |colspan=6| First description of a metal found in South American gold was in 1557 by Julius Caesar Scaliger. Ulloa published his findings in 1748, but Sir Charles Wood also investigated the metal in 1741. First reference to it as a new metal was made by William Brownrigg in 1750. http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/elem/pt.html 
 |- 
 |rowspan=2| 28 
 |rowspan=2| Nickel 
 | 1751 
 | 
 | 1751 
 | Axel Fredrik Cronstedt 
 | 
 | Axel Fredrik Cronstedt 
 |- 
 |colspan=6| By attempting to extract copper from the mineral known as ""fake copper"" (now known as niccolite).http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/elem/ni.html 
 |- 
 |rowspan=2| 12NEWL