The Gestation and Growth of the Periodic Table
Journal: CHIMIA International Journal for Chemistry
Year: 2019

The development of ideas of chemical periodicity from Lavoisier to Mendeleyev's first periodic table of 1869 is surveyed. Although his first periodic table contained a number of errors and weaknesses, his remarkable predictions of the properties of several then unknown elements, together with his capacity to adapt the table to new discoveries, slowly led to its general acceptance. The theory of atomic structure slowly developed to a point where it could rationalise the structure of the table whi