Did you guess that as more elements were discovered, that they would continue to fit Johann Dobereiner's Law of Triad pattern? That would've been the most logical guess, however, this is the 1800's, and we're dealing with science to boot, where thinking outside the box can strike gold!
So with that, take a look at this striking image circa 1862...what do you see? I hope you see a cylinder on the left-hand side that corresponds to the right-hand side, because that right-side image is the left-side cylinder that has been flattened out, or, unrolled. Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois was THE FIRST scientist to organize the elements known at the time by atomic weight or mass, based around the element Oxygen. He discovered this linear pattern between the known elements and their atomic mass, that could then predict where elements yet to be discovered would fall. For instance, on the flattened cylinder image, you see a gap between Beryllium (Be) and Carbon (C). Well, we know that gap is for Boron (B)! He preceded Mendeleev, who is known as the “Father” of the Periodic table, by 7 whole years.
So why are we NOT taught about him? Because apparently his publication that included this organizational graph was more about the geological properties of the elements, rather than the organization of them. He didn’t even publish this graph with the article. Chemists did acknowledge his very important contribution later, but Mendeleev is credited for many reasons, one of which was that his publication focusing on this periodic nature of the elements CAME FIRST.
Moral: It's all about timing.
So with that, take a look at this striking image circa 1862...what do you see? I hope you see a cylinder on the left-hand side that corresponds to the right-hand side, because that right-side image is the left-side cylinder that has been flattened out, or, unrolled. Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois was THE FIRST scientist to organize the elements known at the time by atomic weight or mass, based around the element Oxygen. He discovered this linear pattern between the known elements and their atomic mass, that could then predict where elements yet to be discovered would fall. For instance, on the flattened cylinder image, you see a gap between Beryllium (Be) and Carbon (C). Well, we know that gap is for Boron (B)! He preceded Mendeleev, who is known as the “Father” of the Periodic table, by 7 whole years.
So why are we NOT taught about him? Because apparently his publication that included this organizational graph was more about the geological properties of the elements, rather than the organization of them. He didn’t even publish this graph with the article. Chemists did acknowledge his very important contribution later, but Mendeleev is credited for many reasons, one of which was that his publication focusing on this periodic nature of the elements CAME FIRST.
Moral: It's all about timing.
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