Later in the episode, everyone knows that men de Lave invented the periodic table.

But did he really invent it?

We're here to find out.

We're here in ST Katherine's College, Cambridge, where the well known chemist Peter Waters has assembled a unique collection of early books about the periodic table, including, I Believe, some real Treasures from Mendel Aves Output.

Let's go in and see what it's got.

Well, I think most people would expect us to begin with Mandela's first period table.

So this features in Volume one of his textbook, a System of chemistry here.

Andi, it was literally.

This is just added in at the beginning.

So this is the first published periodic table, which is really rather nice.

So how is your Russian?

Then you can you can read this okay in your system so it's based on their atomic weight and their chemical properties.

So this is a system of the elements chemical elements.

So, of course, the immediately noticeable first thing is it's the wrong way round from our modern periodic table.

Mandalay of has arranged his group's horizontally in this, which is fine.

So, for instance, we see lithium sodium, potassium rubidium, cesium.

Now he's got this one wrong is that if you roll his ego, any elements that don't exist Yes, there is somewhere to Diamond Way doesn't exist.

But of course, was resolved.

Exactly.

Explain to me what's the book and why did he wait till the last minute?

For the best part, Hey was writing a textbook of inorganic chemistry on DDE had already written Volume One on this was actually already been printed.

It was as he was beginning to write further parts of this.

You thought, Well, where am I going to get next?

Well, we won't say the periodic table because there wasn't one.

But after discussing related elements, he thought, well, which, which, which set of elements should I do next?

So he wanted to come up with a system on dhe.

This is his system, but the books were already printed this this first volume and so this a few leaves here.

We're just sent in to literally be stuck in to be pasted in to the printed books, which is remarkable This is rather a nice copy, actually, because it was I think the first owner was a lady, perhaps one of his students.

Somebody's made notes.

Yes, I'm not quite sure what these are yet.

I'm gonna have to work through that.

It is quite a rare book.

Or at least we don't know how many copies there are outside of Russia.

We think this is the only copy in the UK, so I mentioned that the groups in this are arranged horizontally.

But in the second volume, which came out two years later, he's he's changed this.

He's rearranged his periodic table to be farm or recognizable to our eyes.

Now, this one is rather tricky in French, all its some.

So this is in the beginning, off Volume two of his book s.

So now you see, we have hydrogen, lithium, sodium, potassium rubidium season going vertically down.

So this looks much more like our modern periodic table on what is this again?

He developed lots of different arrangements actually on.

So this is also quite good.

I mean, it looks like a period.

So some of group to appear here and some over here magnesium is over here as opposed to in the group here.

Similarly, with so demon so he had a group one A and one B with the There's some sense students of this, of course, is you know, I think the fact that this is now a rather more extensive foldout chart just shows the importance that the attached to this to his system, the cops see this is what he's absolutely famous for.

Now what he's written here is the natural system of the elements, and he's put his name out for it.

So I mean, he's really gluing his name to the periodic table straightaway.

He really did this, actually.

So this is, I think, one of the reasons why Mendel F.

Is often cited as the discoverer of the periodic table.

He really promoted this.

Hey says it was his discovery that the system, the law of the periodic law, but there were other people as we shall see.

So this was his first textbook and I said came out in two voice usually published in two volumes.

Although it came out perhaps in four on this second volume was two years after the very first table that we saw But actually he did publish more extensive journal article where he really describes the periodic system of this apparently was only printed in 80 copies.

So now we really are quite lucky to have have one of these here.

So this is the very first volume off the Russian Chemical Society, the Journal of the Russian Chemical Society.

So this, then is Mendel efs riel first announcement off his periodic table on the system.

So this is the discovery, the periodic law, as he called it.

Obviously he realized that there was something quite fundamental behind this on perhaps the reason why his table and system caught on more than others is because he was also predicting properties of the very detailed predictions on that's perhaps some of the other discoveries didn't go into the same level of detail that he did.

But we see exactly the same table that we saw in the textbook.

Yes.

Now I think what's really fun is s O we see this amazing discovery.

It's amazing announcement to see the first report of this in English.

Okay.

And this was from from this this the same year.

Andi, it's in the chemical news now This was a publication by William Crookes.

He was the editor, the discover of family of of course, and it was said that he just reported anything.

Absolutely everything that was ever anything chemical appeared in here.

And so in here we have this.

Here is the very first announcement in English off Mandalay's system.

Can you read the Yes, it says atomic weights.

Mendel F.

This paper contains a new plan of group in the elements according to the numerical value of their atomic weights in the following manner.

Now you have to listen carefully here.

So lithium seven beryllium 9.4 bore on 11 carbon 12 nitrogen, 14 oxygen.

He's given the symbols here So 16 than Effi, 19 a 23.

So they get the order wrong.

They there's a misprint where they put the symbol for iron instead of which I think is wonderful, isn't it?

But that's it.

This tiny little paragraph here is these the first announcement off that it was completely overlooked, really, At the time, nobody really took much notice off this on.

This was because I think well, people really took notice when the first elements were discovered that agree with his predictions.

So he says at the end here, the author points out that this grouping of the elements expresses the law according to which the elements can combine with oxygen.

As you see, this publication in the Chemical News was in December the 10th 18 69.

So it's the same year.

Yes, it took quite a long time March to December, yes, but that's because they were picking up these entries in other foreign journals, as they say, as they describe it.

But what I think is particularly, says Theo points out that this grouping of the elements well, they don't actually show any grouping in this good.

They just give the first line.

It is table, which is ridiculous.

But it also shows that more senior chemists are notorious for not recognizing breakthroughs when they happen on absolutely haven't changed.

So why we're on mental?

If I thought I'd show you this.

This is rather nice.

So this has been described as his master's thesis, this this tiny little pamphlet here.

There's evidence that he's thinking off atomic weights and organization of things.

In here we see lots of nice formative element compounds and so on So it says here that it was chosen for the defense of the degree of master of chemistry.

In some videography is you see, this is described as his thesis.

But it turns out that this is just the synopsis.

Andi, I'm delighted that we also have the whole thesis here, which is really nice on.

We have found another copy of this recorded in any library today.

There must be copies in Russia, of course, but we haven't found any others yet.

So I think he's looking for specific volumes of these essentially what we would now call Moola volumes off compounds.

And again, this is starting thinking about looking for trends and patterns.

Here.

Mendeleev went through eight different additions of his textbook on, Of course, he had to introduce a whole new group with the noble gases Thes don't feature in the first, but I think this one is rather fun.

So I think this is his last is not in addition off his textbook, but it does contain his last periodic table, published in a remarkable journal.

It's It's crazy in a serialized form in this journal with all sorts of strange articles in So this really has to say this really is quite a old thing to find this final periodic table in here.

And so this was thank his last version of the periodic table.

But he made a slight error here because he puts the noble gases in his group zero, which makes perfect sense.

It's the surveillance, see, is zero.

But this meant then he put helium just before lithium on.

Then this therefore suggested with hydrogen above lithium that there might be another element above helium on one Maur above hydrogen.

So he has X and Y is to unknown elements.

Now, one of these, it was thought, had been discovered in the sun.

This is Caroni, um which it turns out to be a highly oxidized iron of iron.

But the other one he thought was undiscovered.

And he proposed the name New Tony, um, which I think is rather nice.

Which brings us back to Cambridge.

Well, you could argue that the neutron should go there, and I've got a least one periodic table that has neutron on it.

So you could pop in the neutron there If you wanted.

You could thistles the fourth edition off his textbook where the first period table appeared.

But this is an amazing copy.

This is actually a presentation copy from Mendel.

This was presented to the Scottish chemist Alexander Crumb Brown, who was one of the people who developed organic structures.

Yes, I've heard of him.

Did he read Russian?

Well, yes, that's a good question.

Actually.

I don't know, man, LF visited Krum Brown in Edinburgh Yes.

It says, yep to receive an honorary degree.

So this is at that time.

So it's it's dated their 18 84 which is really rather lovely, isn't it?

How much is that worth?

I have no idea how much this would be worth now, but it is really quite fun.

So this is the version of the periodic table that appears in here.

Interestingly enough, this one page appeared at auction last week in Christie's.

It was also signed by Mandalay of like our book is and it sold over £20,000 £20,000 for one page.

So how many pains?

I I don't think we could extrapolated like that, but I think this this complete volume would be quite pricey.

Now I want to go back to Mandalay.

Is first published periodic table.

So this is the one from 18 69 on.

The reason want to do this is because I want you to see another one from an English chemist called William Odling.

So this is five years earlier.

So this is from 18 64.

So, for instance, we have sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium.

Now he's put lithium wrong symbol up here on Dhe, Of course, Mandel F gets his includes lithium here.

But for group two, we have loosen Ian said the old name for earlier on lead here.

And then we have magnesium, calcium, strong team and bury him on group two.

We have beryllium magnesium, so they're separate from the other members.

Calcium, strong team, barium on dhe again and left what's led in the sacred.

Understandably.

But when we go to compare some of the other groups in the main group, the they get even closer.

The similarities.

So Group three or 13 of the period table is a tricky one, because, of course, they only had a couple of elements.

So Mandalay phoning you of boron on aluminium.

So we have boron aluminium unknown on dure Aini um on gold from Mandalay ifs on here we have boron aluminium space again where gallium will come on then again uranium there.

So they're really very, very similar.

These tables when we go to group 15 or five nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony business completely right in Goodling's table on Dhe.

Completely right in Mendel s nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony business.

So where did he publish this?

So this is in a journal with is not a chemical journal.

So this is the Journal of Science.

So there are many different articles in this related subjects, but he didn't really push this in the same way that mended after later on, he didn't really produced such accurate predictions for the properties of the missing elements.

And that was the thing that really caught people's attention from indolence version on what?

The tickle?

His article.

I think I think it's just an arrangement.

So the title of his article is on the proportional numbers of the elements.

But so he was quite an imminent scientist.

He was fellow of the royal Society.

Yes, it shows that you not only got to discover something or propose something, but other people have to find out about it and if you publish it somewhere where nobody else sees it, then you might as well not publish it.

A tall So what's his name?

William Odling.

When you must say that doodling does not have the sound of Mendel layoffs, name does It is interesting that the groups also are going horizontally as well.

Like Mandalay's first version.

Professor, Did you know about this before today?

Well, I I knew that there were some previous ones, but I never realized how similar it.