Timeline of the Discovery of the Elements Page 1 of 10

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Low Power Cells Around 350 BC, Aristotle theorised that there were only four elements;
High Power Cells earth, air, fire and water. Until the middle ages the rate of identification of
Chargers & Charging new chemical elements remained at about one every thousand years.
Battery Management Curiosity was then at last aroused by the alchemists in their attempts to
Battery Testing convert various materials into gold and by the end of the nineteenth century,
Get Help chemists had discovered almost all the elements, at least the stable ones. In
Information Hotline the twentieth century the quest was taken up by physicists and the focus
Quotation Request turned to the discovery of sub-atomic particles.
FAQ
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See also the Battery Timeline and the Hall of Fame for a more comprehensive history
Free Report of technology.
Why Batteries Fail
Choosing a Battery Atomic Location /
Date Element Symbol Discoverer
How to Specify Number Comments
Batteries Antiquity Carbon C 6 Unknown
News
Chaldeans (Iraq)
MPower News Antiquity Copper Cu 29
(10,000 BC)
Battery Events
Antiquity Sulphur S 16 Greeks
ISO 9000 Qualified
C.5000 BC Gold Au 79 Egyptians

Chaldeans (Iraq),
C.5000 BC Silver Ag 47
Send this page Greeks
to a friend
Egyptians,
MPower does not monitor C.2500 BC Iron Fe 26
Hittites (Turkey)
or record these emails
C.2100 BC Tin Sn 50 Egyptians, Incas

Egyptians,
C.1600 BC Antimony Sb 51
Chaldeans
Egyptians,
C.1500 BC Mercury Hg 80
Chinese, Greeks
C.1000 BC Lead Pb 82 Egyptians

Romans

Paracelsus
C.0 BC/AD Zinc Zn 30 (German Identified as a
alchemist and metal in 1526
physician)

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Timeline of the Discovery of the Elements Page 2 of 10

Inactivity

C.1250 AD Arsenic As 33 Albertus Magnus German monk

German monk
Basil Valentinus Described in
C.1500 AD Bismuth Bi 83 1500
Claude François French chemist
Geoffroy Identified in 1753
German
1669 AD Phosphorus P 15 Henning Brand
alchemist
South American
Indians
Spanish explorer
Pre 1700 Platinum Pt 78 Antonio de Ulloa and administrator
Identified in 1741
British chemist
Charles Wood
Identified in 1741
Swedish chemist
1735 Cobalt Co 27 Georg Brandt
& mineralogist
Axel Fredrik Swedish chemist
1751 Nickel Ni 28
Cronstedt & mineralogist
Scottish physicist
1755 Magnesium Mg 12 Joseph Black
& chemist
Henry
1766 Hydrogen H 1 English aristocrat
Cavendish
Daniel Scottish chemist
1772 Nitrogen N 7
Rutherford & physician
Swedish chemist
Karl Wilhelm
at Uppsala
Scheele
1772/4 Oxygen O 8 University
English chemist &
Joseph Priestley
philosopher
1774 Chlorine Cl 17 Scheele

Johann Gottlieb
1774 Manganese Mn 25 Swedish chemist
Gahn
Louis-Nicholas French
1780 Chromium Cr 24
Vauquelin pharmacist
1781 Molybdenum Mo 42 Peter Hjelm Swedish chemist

Franz Müller von Hungarian

1783 Tellurium Te 52
Reichenstein mineralogist

Juan & Fausto Spanish chemists

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Timeline of the Discovery of the Elements Page 3 of 10

1783 Tungsten W 74 Elhuyar & mineralogists

Scottish
Adair Crawford physician
Discovery 1787
1787 Strontium Sr 38
Thomas Charles Identified 1791in
Hope Edinburgh
Davy Isolated 1808

Martin Heinrich German chemist

1789 Zirconium Zr 40
Klaproth & mineralogist
1789 Uranium U 92 Klaproth

William Gregor English vicar

1791 Titanium Ti 22
Klaproth Identified in 1795
Finnish chemist &
1794 Yttrium Y 39 Johan Gadolin
mineralogist
French
Vauquelin mineralogist
Discovered 1797
German chemist
1797 Beryllium Be 4 Friedrich Wöhler Isolated 1828 in
Berlin
Antoine- French chemist
Alexander-Brutus Isolated 1828 in
Bussy Paris
Andrés Manuel Spanish scientist
1801 Vanadium V 23
del Rio & naturalist
1801 Niobium Nb 41 Charles Hatchett English chemist

Anders Gustaf
1802 Tantalum Ta 73 Swedish chemist
Ekeberg
English chemist &
William Hyde
1803 Rhodium Rh 45 physician
Wollaston
Cambridge
1803 Palladium Pd 46 Wollaston

Smithson English chemist

1803 Osmium Os 76
Tennant Cambridge
1803 Indium In 77 Tennant

Swedish chemist
Jöns Jacob & Swedish
1803 Cerium Ce 58 Berzelius & geologist
Wilhelm Hisinger At Uppsala
University

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Timeline of the Discovery of the Elements Page 4 of 10

English chemist &

1807 Potassium K 19 Humphry Davy
physicist
1807 Sodium Na 11 Davy

Louis-Josef Gay-
Lussac & Louis- French chemists
1808 Boron B 5
Jacques Thenard
Davy

1808 Calcium Ca 20 Davy

Polish chemist
Jedrzej Andrei Discovered 1808
Sniadecki at Vilno (not
confirmed)
1808 Ruthenium Ru 44
Russian chemist
Isolated 1844 at
Karl Klaus
Kazan State
University
1808 Barium Ba 56 Davy

1811 Iodine I 53 Bernard Courtois French chemist

1815 Thorium Th 90 Berzelius

Johan August Swedish chemist

1817 Lithium Li 3
Arfvedson Uppsala
1817 Selenium Se 34 Berzelius

Friedrich
German chemist
Strohmeyer
1817 Cadmium Cd 48 Karl Samuel
Leberecht German chemist
Hermann
1824 Silicon Si 14 Berzelius

Hans Christian Danish physicist

1825 Aluminium Al 13
Øersted Copenhagen
Heidelberg,
Carl Löwig
Germany
1825/6 Bromine Br 35
Antoine-Jérôme Montpelier,
Balard France
Swedish chemist
1839 Lanthanum La 57 Carl Mosander
& mineralogist
1842 Erbium Er 68 Mosander

1843 Terbium Tb 65 Mosander

German chemists
& German

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Timeline of the Discovery of the Elements Page 5 of 10

physicist at
Robert Bunsen &
1860 Caesium Cs 55 Heidelberg
Gustav Kirchhoff
University
Bunsen &
1861 Rubidium Rb 37
Kirchhoff
English chemist
1861 Thallium Tl 81 William Crookes
London
Ferdinand Reich
1863 Induim In 77 & Hieronymus German chemists
Richter
Pierre Jules French
César Janssen astronomer
1868 Helium He 2
Joseph Norman English
Lockyer astronomer
Dmitriy Ivanovich Russian chemist
Mendeleyev Predicted 1871
1871 Gallium Ga 31
Paul Émile Lecoq French chemist
de Boisbaudran Discovered 1875
Mendeleev Predicted 1871
1871 Scandium Sc 21 Swedish chemist
Lars Nilson
Discovered 1879
Mendeleyev Predicted 1871

German chemist
1871 Germanium Ge 32 Discovered 1886
Clemens Winkler
Freiburg
University
Mendeleyev Predicted 1871

Kasimir Fajans & Karlsruhe,

Otto Göhring Germany 1913
Kaiser-Wilhem
Otto Hahn & Lise
1871 Protactinium Pa 91 Institute, Berlin
Meitner
1918
Frederick Soddy,
Glasgow,
John Cranston &
Scotland 1918
Andrew Fleck
Swedish chemist
Per Teodor Cleve
Uppsala

1878 Holmium Ho 67
Marc Swiss chemists
Delafontaine & Geneva
Jacques-Louis

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Timeline of the Discovery of the Elements Page 6 of 10

Soret
Jean Charles
Swiss chemist
1878 Ytterbium Yb 70 Galissard de
Geneva
Marignac
1879 Samarium Sm 62 de Boisbaudran

1879 Thulium Tm 69 Cleve

1880 Gadolinium Gd 64 de Marignac

Carl Auer
Austrian scientist
1885 Praseodymium Pr 59 Freiherr von
& inventor
Welsbach
1885 Neodymium Nd 60 von Welsbach

Joseph Henri French chemist

1886 Fluorine F 9
Moissan Paris
1886 Dysprosium Dy 66 de Boisbaudran

English physicist
John William
& Scottish
Strutt (Lord
1894 Argon Ar 18 chemist
Rayleigh) &
Cambridge & UC
William Ramsay
London
University
1895 Helium He 2 Ramsay
College London
Scottish &
Ramsay & Morris
1898 Krypton Kr 36 English chemists
William Travers
UC London
Ramsay &
1898 Neon Ne 10 UC London
Travers
Ramsay &
1898 Xenon Xe 54 UC London
Travers
Polish-French
physicist &
1898 Polonium Po 84 Marie Curie
chemist
Sorbonne, Paris
Marie & Pierre
1898 Radium Ra 88
Curie
French chemist
1899 Actinium Ac 89 André Debierne
Paris

Friedrich Ernst German physicist

1900 Radon Rn 86
Dorn Halle University
Eugène Anatole
1901 Europium Eu 63 French chemist
Demarçay

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Timeline of the Discovery of the Elements Page 7 of 10

French chemist
Georges Urbain
Sorbonne, Paris
English chemist
1907 Lutetium Lu 71 Charles James University of New
Hampshire, USA
Austrian chemist
Karl Auer
Germany
Danish and
Hungarian
Dirk Coster &
1923 Hafnium Hf 72 chemists
György Hevesey
University of
Copenhagen
Walter Noddack,
1925 Rhenium Re 75 Ida Tacke & Otto Berlin, Germany
Carl Berg

Technetium Noddack, Tacke

1925 Tc 43 Berlin, Germany
(Masurium) & Berg
H. B. Law, J. D. (Claimed 1938)
Pool, Kurbatov Ohio State
& L. L. Quill University
1938 Promethium Pm 61 J.A. Marinsky,
(Proved 1945)
L.E. Glendenin,
Oak Ridge Labs,
Charles D.
Tennessee
Coryell
Curie Institute,
1939 Francium Fr 87 Marguerite Perey
Paris
Dale R. Corson,
K. R. Mackenzie University of
1940 Astatine At 85
& Emilio Segré California
(Italian)
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.
Edwin M.
Berkeley,
1940 Neptunium Np 93 McMillan & Philip
California
H. Abelson

Glenn T. Lawrence
1940 Plutonium Pu 94 Seaborg, Arthur Radiation Labs
C. Wahl, Joseph (LRL), University
W. Kennedy, of California,

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Timeline of the Discovery of the Elements Page 8 of 10

Michael Cefola & Berkeley

McMillan
Seaborg, Ralph
1944 Curium Cm 96 A. James & LRL, Berkeley
Albert Ghiorso
Seaborg, Leon O. Argonne National
1944 Americium Am 95
Morgan et al. Lab, Chicago
Ghiorso,
Seaborg, Stanley
1949 Berkelium Bk 97 LRL, Berkeley
G. Thompson &
Kenneth Street
Ghiorso, Seaborg
1950 Californium Cf 98 LRL, Berkeley
et al.
Ghiorso et al. LRL, Berkeley
1952 Einsteinium Es 99 G. R. Choppin et Los Aamos
al. National Lab
LRL, Berkeley,
jointly with
Ghiorso with a Argonne National
1952 Fermium Fm 100
large team 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.

Ghiorso, Bernard
1955 Mendelevium Md 101 LRL, Berkeley
Harvey et al.
Joint Institute for
Nuclear JNIR, Dubna,
Research (JINR) USSR 1956
team
1956 Nobelium No 102 Ghiorso,
Seaborg, John R.
LRL, Berkeley
Walton
1958
&Torbjørn
Sikkeland
Ghiorso, Almon
1961 Lawrencium Lr 103 Larsh, Robert M. LRL, Berkeley
Latimer et al.
György Flerov et JNIR, Dubna,
1964 Rutherfordium Rf 104 al. USSR

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Timeline of the Discovery of the Elements Page 9 of 10

Ghiorso et al. LRL, Berkeley

JNIR, Dubna,
Flerov et al.
USSR 1967
1967 Dubnium Db 105
LRL, Berkeley
Ghiorso et al.
1969
Flerov,Yuri
JNIR, Dubna,
Organessian et
1974 Seaborgium Sg 106 USSR
al.

Ghiorso et al. LRL, Berkeley

Organessian et JNIR, Dubna,

al. USSR 1976
Peter
1976 Bohrium Bh 107 Armbruster, GSI Labs,
Gottfried Darmstadt,
Münzenberg et Germany 1981
al.

Armbruster, GSI Labs,

1982 Meitnerium Mt 109 Münzenberg et Darmstadt,
al. Germany
Armbruster, GSI Labs,
1984 Hassium Hs 108 Münzenberg et Darmstadt,
al. Germany
GSI Labs,
Armbruster,
1994 Darmstadtium Ds 110 Darmstadt,
Jorge Rigol et al.
Germany
Place-holder
name
1994 Ununumium Uuu 111 Armbruster et al. GSI Labs,
Darmstadt,
Germany
Place-holder
Armbruster, name
1996 Ununbium Uub 112 Sigurd Hofmann GSI Labs,
et al. Darmstadt,
Germany
Organessian, Place-holder
Vladimir name
Utyonkov et al. JNIR
1998 Ununquadium Uuq 114
Kenton Moody et Lawrence
al. Livermore
National

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Timeline of the Discovery of the Elements Page 10 of 10

Laboratory
(LLNL), California
Place-holder
Organessian,
name
2001 Ununhexium Uuh 116 Utyonkov, Moody
Joint JNIR &
et al.
LLNL teams
Place-holder
Organessian et name
2004 Ununtrium Uut 113
al. Joint JNIR &
LLNL teams
Place-holder
Organessian et name
2004 Ununpentium Uup 115
al. Joint JNIR &
LLNL teams
Place-holder
Organessian et name
2006 Ununoctium Uuo 118
al. Joint JNIR &
LLNL teams
Place-holder
Ununseptium Uus 117 Expected
name
Robert
Place-holder
Ununennium Uue 119 Smolanczuk
name
(Predicted)

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