ABSTRACT
In Chapter 3 of this book I remarked how, when I was at school, I was struck in my chemistry lessons with wonder and awe at the periodic table of the elements. It rationalised this vast geography of the chemical elements and gave rational insights into what might chemically react with what. No doubt it is an excellent idea to have an International Year of the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements as the United Nations science event of 2019 [1]. The event also marks the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the Periodic System by Dmitry Mendeleev (1834–1907) in 1869 in a presentation to the Russian Chemical Society. Mendeleev is pictured in Figure 12.1 when he visited Manchester on the occasion of the British Association Meeting in 1887. Mendeleev is pictured here when he visited Manchester on the occasion of the British Association Meeting held in 1887. The distinguished scientists featured in the photograph are as follows. Back row: Johannes Wislicenus (1835–1902), Thomas Carnelley (1854–1890), Henry Edward Schunck (1820–1903), Carl Schorlemmer (1834–1892) and James Prescott Joule (1818–1889); Front row: Julius Lothar Meyer (1830–1895), Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834–1907) and Henry Enfield Roscoe (1833–1915). Figure courtesy of the University of Manchester. I thank James Peters, University of Manchester Archivist, and Emeritus Professor Jonathan Connor of the School of Chemistry, University of Manchester for making this figure caption as accurate as possible. Professor Connor also kindly provided this digital image. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429279218/f6455011-dd88-4c25-a186-ca87046721fc/content/fig12_1_B.jpg"/>
