Who Made The Periodic Table?

John Newlands

Snappy Facts:

Full Name: John Alexander Reina Newlands

Birth: November 26, 1837

Death: July 29, 1898

Age at death: 60

 

Newlands childhood:

John Newlands was not sent to a public school by his italian mother: he was homeschooled by his father until later on when he went to study at the Royal College of Chemistry. Using Doberiener's triads he was one of the first people to consider the elements and created octaves to develop knowledge of the periodic table. Returning to London from a trip to Italy, Newlands opened up a practice as a chemist. Later on he was promoted to chief chemist at a suger refinery.

 

 

Newlands' Octaves:

In 1864 John put serious thought into elements in chemistry and put forward Newlands'  Octaves. Octaves were elements into groups of seven based on atomic mass with the most similar element eight spaces forward:

 

 

Part of Newlands' table

H   Li   Be   B   C   N     O

F   Na  Mg  Al  Si  P      S

Cl  K    Ca   Cr  Ti  Mn  Fe

 

 

Although his theory made a lot of sense, because he placed O (oxygen) and S (sulpur) in the same column as iron (FE) many sciencists disagreed with him. Others also used octaves in music notes too as every eighth note was simular.