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who made the periodic table

The periodic table was created in 1869 by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, who is widely regarded as its main inventor.

Quick Scoop: Who “Made” the Periodic Table?

  • Dmitri Mendeleev arranged the known elements into the first widely recognized periodic table in 1869.
  • He organized elements by atomic weight and recurring chemical properties, and crucially left gaps where he predicted undiscovered elements.
  • Later discoveries like gallium, scandium, and germanium matched his predictions, which convinced scientists his system worked.

So, if you’re answering a test or a quiz to “who made the periodic table,” the expected name is:

Dmitri Mendeleev, in 1869.

But Was It Only Mendeleev?

The story is a bit richer than a single name.

  • Before Mendeleev, Antoine Lavoisier started organizing elements by their properties in 1789, laying early groundwork.
  • In 1862, Alexandre-Émile Béguyer de Chancourtois plotted elements on a cylinder by atomic weight and saw periodic patterns.
  • In 1864, John Newlands noticed that every eighth element had similar properties, a pattern he called the “law of octaves.”
  • Around the same time as Mendeleev, Lothar Meyer built a very similar table and is often cited as a co-creator, though Mendeleev’s predictive power gave him priority.

Still, chemistry textbooks nearly always credit Mendeleev as the inventor because his table both organized known elements and successfully predicted unknown ones.

Mini Timeline

  1. 1789 – Lavoisier classifies known elements by simple properties.
  1. 1817 – Döbereiner shows some elements can be grouped in “triads” by atomic weight and properties.
  1. 1862 – De Chancourtois uses a cylindrical arrangement to show periodicity.
  1. 1864 – Newlands proposes his “law of octaves.”
  1. 1869 – Mendeleev publishes his periodic table, leaving gaps for unknown elements.
  1. 1870s–1880s – Predicted elements such as gallium are discovered and match his forecasts, cementing his reputation.

Simple HTML Table: Key Names

Because you asked for structured, quick info, here’s an HTML-format table of major contributors:

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Scientist</th>
      <th>Contribution</th>
      <th>Approx. Date</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Antoine Lavoisier</td>
      <td>Early classification of elements by properties</td>
      <td>1789</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Johann Döbereiner</td>
      <td>Element “triads” linked by atomic weight and properties</td>
      <td>1817</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>A.-É. Béguyer de Chancourtois</td>
      <td>Cylindrical arrangement showing periodic patterns by atomic weight</td>
      <td>1862</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>John Newlands</td>
      <td>“Law of octaves” (similar properties every eighth element)</td>
      <td>1864</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Lothar Meyer</td>
      <td>Early periodic table similar to Mendeleev’s, emphasized repeating patterns</td>
      <td>Late 1860s</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Dmitri Mendeleev</td>
      <td>First widely accepted periodic table, with correct gaps and predictions for unknown elements</td>
      <td>1869–1871</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Quick TL;DR

  • Name you should remember: Dmitri Mendeleev.
  • Year: 1869.
  • Others helped build the path (Lavoisier, Newlands, Meyer, and more), but Mendeleev’s table became the basis of the modern periodic table.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.