6 articles
History & Famous Chemists
The people, discoveries and experiments that built modern chemistry.
The Newest Elements: Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine and Oganesson
The four elements added to the periodic table in 2016 — nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson — how they were discovered, where their names come from, and what's next.
Elements Named After Scientists: The People on the Periodic Table
The elements named after real people — from curium and einsteinium to seaborgium and oganesson — who they honour, what each scientist did, and the rules for naming an element after someone.
How Elements Get Their Names: Gods, Places, Scientists and Colours
Where element names come from — mythology, places, scientists, properties, colours and minerals — with examples for each, plus the IUPAC rules for naming new elements today.
Marie Curie and the Discovery of Polonium and Radium
How Marie and Pierre Curie discovered polonium and radium in 1898 by tracking radioactivity through tonnes of ore, what made the work so remarkable, and the legacy — and dangers — of the elements they found.
The History of Atomic Models: From Dalton to Quantum Mechanics
How our picture of the atom evolved — Dalton's solid spheres, Thomson's plum pudding, Rutherford's nucleus, Bohr's orbits, Chadwick's neutron and the quantum mechanical model — and the experiments that changed each one.
The History of the Periodic Table: From Döbereiner to Mendeleev and Beyond
How the periodic table was built — Döbereiner's triads, Newlands' octaves, Mendeleev's bold predictions, Moseley's atomic numbers, and Seaborg's actinides — and why Mendeleev gets the credit.