Discoveries of the chemical elements
The discovery of the elements known to exist today is presented here in chronological order. The elements are listed generally in the order in which each was first defined as the pure element, as the exact date of discovery of most elements cannot be accurately defined. There are no written records for the discoveries of the first few elements.
Additional recommended knowledge
Antiquity
13th century
15th century
| Name
| Date
| Discoverer
| Notes
|
| Antimony
| 1450[1][2]
| First described scientifically by Tholden
|
| Bismuth
| 15th century?[1]
| May have been described in writings attributed to Basil Valentinus, definitively identified by Claude François Geoffroy in 1753[2]
|
16th century
17th century
18th century
19th century
| Name
| Date
| Discoverer
| Notes
|
| Vanadium
| 1801[1][2]
| Andrés Manuel del Río
| Originally called panchromium, and later erythronium, by its discoverer, but the discovery was not recognized at the time. It was called vanadium by Nils Gabriel Sefström, who rediscovered it 29 years later.
|
| Niobium
| 1801[1][2]
| Charles Hatchett
| Named columbium by discoverer.
|
| Tantalum
| 1802[1][2]
| Anders Gustaf Ekeberg
|
| Cerium
| 1803[1][2]
| Martin Heinrich Klaproth; Jöns Jakob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger
| Named after the newly discovered asteroid, Ceres. Discovered nearly simultaneously in two laboratories, though it was later shown that Berzelius and Hisinger's cerium was actually a mixture of cerium, lanthanum and so-called didymium.
|
| Rhodium
| 1803[1][2]
| William Hyde Wollaston
|
| Palladium
| 1803[1][2]
| William Hyde Wollaston
| Named after the newly discovered asteroid, Pallas.
|
| Osmium
| 1803[1][2]
| Smithson Tennant
|
| Iridium
| 1803[1][2]
| Smithson Tennant
|
| Potassium
| 1807[1][2]
| Humphry Davy
| Discovered using electricity from the Voltaic pile to decompose the salts of alkali metals.
|
| Sodium
| 1807[1][2]
| Humphry Davy
| Discovered using electricity from the Voltaic pile to decompose the salts of alkali metals; discovered a few days after potassium, using the same method.
|
| Calcium
| 1808[1][2]
| Humphry Davy
| Discovered using electricity from the Voltaic pile to decompose the salts of alkali metals.
|
| Barium
| 1808[1][2]
| Humphry Davy
| Discovered using electricity from the Voltaic pile to decompose the salts of alkali metals.
|
| Boron
| 1808[1][2]
| Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac & Louis-Jacques Thenard
|
| Iodine
| 1811[1][2]
| Bernard Courtois
|
| Lithium
| 1817[1][2]
| Johan August Arfwedson
|
| Cadmium
| 1817[1][2]
| Friedrich Strohmeyer Independently discovered by K.S.L Hermann
|
| Selenium
| 1817[1][2]
| Jöns Jakob Berzelius
|
| Silicon
| 1823[1][2]
| Jöns Jakob Berzelius
|
| Aluminium
| 1825[1][2]
| Hans Christian Ørsted
|
|
| Bromine
| 1826[1][2]
| Antoine Jérôme Balard
|
| Thorium
| 1828[1][2]
| Jöns Jakob Berzelius
|
| Beryllium
| 1828[1][2]
| Friedrich Wöhler. Independently discovered by A.A.B. Bussy
| Discovered as an oxide in beryl and emerald by Louis Nicolas Vauquelin in 1798, but not isolated until 1828.
|
| Lanthanum
| 1839-41[1][2]
| Carl Gustaf Mosander
| Discovered when Mosander showed that the cerium isolated in 1803 by Berzelius was actually a mixture of cerium, lanthanum and so-called didymium.
|
| Terbium
| 1843[1][2]
| Carl Gustaf Mosander
|
| Erbium
| 1843[1][2]
| Carl Gustaf Mosander
|
| Ruthenium
| 1844[1][2]
| Karl Klaus
|
| Caesium
| 1860[1][2]
| Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff
| First identified by its blue spectroscopic emission line.
|
| Rubidium
| 1860[1][2]
| Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff
| First identified by its red spectroscopic emission line.
|
| Thallium
| 1861[1][2]
| Sir William Crookes
| First identified by its bright green spectroscopic emission line.
|
| Indium
| 1863[1][2]
| Ferdinand Reich and Theodor Richter
| First identified by its indigo-blue spectroscopic emission line.
|
| Helium
| 1868[1][2]
| Independently by Pierre Jansen and Norman Lockyer
| First identified by astronomers as an emission line in the spectrum of the sun.
|
| Gallium
| 1875[1][2]
| Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran
| Predicted by Mendeleev in 1871 as ekaaluminium.
|
| Ytterbium
| 1878[1][2]
| Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac
|
| Thulium
| 1879[1][2]
| Per Teodor Cleve
|
| Scandium
| 1879[1][2]
| Lars Fredrik Nilson
| Predicted by Mendeleev in 1871 as ekaboron.
|
| Holmium
| 1879[1][2]
| Marc Delafontaine, Jacques-Louis Soret and Per Teodor Cleve
|
| Samarium
| 1879[1][2]
| Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran
|
| Gadolinium
| 1880[1][2]
| Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac
|
| Praseodymium
| 1885[1][2]
| Carl Auer von Welsbach
| The didymium isolated by Mosander in 1839 was shown to be two separate elements; praseodymium and neodymium.
|
| Neodymium
| 1885[1][2]
| Carl Auer von Welsbach
| The didymium isolated by Mosander in 1839 was shown to be two separate elements, praseodymium and neodymium.
|
| Dysprosium
| 1886[1][2]
| Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran
|
| Germanium
| 1886[1][2]
| Clemens Winkler
| Predicted by Mendeleev in 1871 as ekasilicon.
|
| Fluorine
| 1886[1][2]
| Joseph Henri Moissan
|
| Argon
| 1894[1][2]
| Lord Rayleigh & Sir William Ramsay
| Discovered by comparing the molecular weights of nitrogen prepared by liquefaction from air and nitrogen prepared by chemical means.
|
| Neon
| 1898[1][2]
| Sir William Ramsay
| Separated from liquid argon by difference in boiling point.
|
| Krypton
| 1898[1][2]
| Sir William Ramsay
| Separated from liquid argon by difference in boiling point.
|
| Xenon
| 1898[1][2]
| Sir William Ramsay
| Separated from liquid argon by difference in boiling point.
|
| Radium
| 1898[1][2]
| Pierre Curie and Marie Curie
|
| Polonium
| 1898[1][2]
| Pierre Curie and Marie Curie
|
| Radon
| 1898[1][2]
| Friedrich Ernst Dorn, who called it niton
| Discovered as a product of the radioactive decay of radium.
|
| Actinium
| 1899[1][2]
| André-Louis Debierne
|
20th century
| Number
| Name
| Date
| Discoverer
| Notes
|
| 63
| Europium
| 1901[1][2]
| Eugene Demarcay
|
| 71
| Lutetium
| 1907[1][2]
| Georges Urbain
|
| 91
| Protactinium
| 1917[1][2]
| Kasimir Fajans, O. Göhring, Fredrich Soddy, John Cranston, Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn
|
| 72
| Hafnium
| 1923[1][2]
| Dirk Coster and György Hevesy
|
| 75
| Rhenium
| 1925[1][2]
| Walter Noddack and Ida Tacke
| Last stable element to be discovered.
|
| 43
| Technetium
| 1937[1][2]
| Carlo Perrier and Emilio Segrè
| First synthetic element discovered. Predicted by Mendeleev in 1871 as ekamanganese.
|
| 87
| Francium
| 1939[1][2]
| Marguerite Perey
| Last element to be discovered in nature, rather than synthesized in the lab. Note that some of the "synthetic" elements that were discovered later (plutonium, neptunium, astatine) were eventually found in trace amounts in nature as well.
|
| 85
| Astatine
| 1940[1][2]
| Dale R. Corson, K.R.Mackenzie, Emilio Segrè
| Later determined to occur naturally in minuscule quantitites (<25 grams in earth's crust).
|
| 93
| Neptunium
| 1940[1][2]
| E.M. McMillan & Philip H. Abelson, University of California, Berkeley
| First transuranium element discovered.
|
| 94
| Plutonium
| 1941[1][2]
| Glenn T. Seaborg, Arthur C. Wahl, Joseph W. Kennedy, Emilio Segrè
|
| 95
| Americium
| 1944[1][2]
| Glenn T. Seaborg
|
| 96
| Curium
| 1944[1][2]
| Glenn T. Seaborg
|
| 61
| Promethium
| 1945[1][2]
| Jacob A. Marinsky
|
| 97
| Berkelium
| 1949[1][2]
| Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Stanley G. Thompson, Kenneth Street Jr.
|
| 98
| Californium
| 1950[1][2]
| Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Stanley G. Thompson, Kenneth Street Jr.
|
| 99
| Einsteinium
| 1952[1][2]
| Argonne Laboratory, Los Alamos Laboratory, and University of California
|
| 100
| Fermium
| 1953[1][2]
| Argonne Laboratory, Los Alamos Laboratory, and University of California
|
| 101
| Mendelevium
| 1955[1][2]
| Glenn T. Seaborg, Evans G. Valens
|
| 102
| Nobelium
| 1958[1][2]
| Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, John R. Walton and Torbørn Sikkeland
|
| 103
| Lawrencium
| 1961[1][2]
| Albert Ghiorso, Torbjørn Sikkeland, Almon Larsh and Robert M. Latimer
|
| 104
| Rutherfordium
| 1964[1][2]
| Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, USSR
|
| 105
| Dubnium
| 1967[1][2]
| Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, USSR. Later confirmed by Albert Ghiorso
|
| 106
| Seaborgium
| 1974[1][2]
| Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and University of California, Berkeley
|
| 107
| Bohrium
| 1976[1][2]
| Y. Oganessian et al, Dubna and confirmed at GSI (1982)
|
| 109
| Meitnerium
| 1982[1][2]
| Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg, GSI
|
| 108
| Hassium
| 1984[1][2]
| Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg
|
| 110
| Darmstadtium
| 1994[1][2]
| S. Hofmann, V. Ninov et al, GSI
|
| 111
| Roentgenium
| 1994[1][2]
| S. Hofmann, V. Ninov et al, GSI
|
| 112
| Ununbium
| 1996[1][2]
| S. Hofmann, V. Ninov et al, GSI
|
| 114
| Ununquadium
| 1999
| Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna[3]
|
21st century
| Number
| Name
| Date
| Discoverer
| Notes
|
| 116
| Ununhexium
| 2001
| Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna[4]
|
| 113
| Ununtrium
| 2004
| Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory[5]
|
| 115
| Ununpentium
| 2004
| Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory[5]
|
| 118
| Ununoctium
| 2006
| Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory[6]
|
See also
References
|
