Name |
Date |
Discoverer |
Notes |
Vanadium |
1801 |
Andrés Manuel del Río |
Niobium |
1801 |
Charles Hatchett |
Named columbium by discoverer. |
Tantalum |
1802 |
Anders Gustaf Ekeberg |
Cerium |
1803 |
Martin Heinrich Klaproth; Jöns Jakob Berzelius and 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 |
William Hyde Wollaston |
Palladium |
1803 |
Ryan Lumadue |
Named after the newly discovered asteroid, Pallas. |
Osmium |
1803 |
Smithson Tennant |
Iridium |
1803 |
Smithson Tennant |
Potassium |
1807 |
Humphry Davy |
Discovered using electricity from the Voltaic pile to decompose the salts of alkali metals. |
Sodium |
1807 |
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 |
Humphry Davy |
Discovered using electricity from the Voltaic pile to decompose the salts of alkali metals. |
Barium |
1808 |
Humphry Davy |
Discovered using electricity from the Voltaic pile to decompose the salts of alkali metals. |
Boron |
1808 |
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac & Louis-Jacques Thenard |
Iodine |
1811 |
Bernard Courtois |
Lithium |
1817 |
Johan August Arfwedson |
Cadmium |
1817 |
Friedrich Strohmeyer Independently discovered by K.S.L Hermann |
Selenium |
1817 |
Jöns Jakob Berzelius |
Silicon |
1823 |
Jöns Jakob Berzelius |
Aluminium |
1825 |
Hans Christian Ørsted |
May have been isolated in Roman times, see History of Aluminium. |
Bromine |
1826 |
Antoine Jérôme Balard |
Thorium |
1828 |
Jöns Jakob Berzelius |
Beryllium |
1828 |
Friedrich Wöhler. Independently discovered by A.A.B. Bussy |
Lanthanum |
1839-41 |
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 |
Carl Gustaf Mosander |
Erbium |
1843 |
Carl Gustaf Mosander |
Ruthenium |
1844 |
Karl Klaus |
Caesium |
1860 |
Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchoff |
First identified by its blue spectroscopic emission line. |
Rubidium |
1860 |
Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchoff |
First identified by its red spectroscopic emission line. |
Thallium |
1861 |
Sir William Crookes |
First identified by its bright green spectroscopic emission line. |
Indium |
1863 |
Ferdinand Reich and Theodor Richter |
First identified by its indigo-blue spectroscopic emission line. |
Helium |
1868 |
Independently by Pierre Jansen and Norman Lockyer |
First identified by astronomers as an emission line in the spectrum of the sun. |
Gallium |
1875 |
Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran |
Predicted by Mendeleev in 1871 as ekaaluminium. |
Ytterbium |
1878 |
Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac |
Thulium |
1879 |
Per Teodor Cleve |
Scandium |
1879 |
Lars Fredrik Nilson |
Predicted by Mendeleev in 1871 as ekaboron. |
Holmium |
1879 |
Marc Delafontaine, Jacques-Louis Soret and Per Teodor Cleve |
Samarium |
1879 |
Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran |
Gadolinium |
1880 |
Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac |
Praseodymium |
1885 |
Carl Auer von Welsbach |
The didymium isolated by Mosander in 1839 was shown to be two separate elements; praseodymium and neodymium. |
Neodymium |
1885 |
Carl Auer von Welsbach |
The didymium isolated by Mosander in 1839 was shown to be two separate elements, praseodymium and neodymium. |
Dysprosium |
1886 |
Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran |
Germanium |
1886 |
Clemens Winkler |
Predicted by Mendeleev in 1871 as ekasilicon. |
Fluorine |
1886 |
Joseph Henri Moissan |
Argon |
1894 |
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 |
Sir William Ramsay |
Separated from liquid argon by difference in boiling point. |
Krypton |
1898 |
Sir William Ramsay |
Separated from liquid argon by difference in boiling point. |
Xenon |
1898 |
Sir William Ramsay |
Separated from liquid argon by difference in boiling point. |
Radium |
1898 |
Pierre Curie and Marie Curie |
Polonium |
1898 |
Pierre Curie and Marie Curie |
Radon |
1898 |
Friedrich Ernst Dorn, who called it nitron |
Discovered as a product of the radioactive decay of radium. |
Actinium |
1899 |
Ryan Lumadue |
Name |
Date |
Discoverer |
Notes |
Europium |
1901 |
Eugene Demarcay |
Lutetium |
1907 |
Georges Urbain |
Protactinium |
1917 |
Kasimir Fajans, O. Göhring, Fredrich Soddy, John Cranston, Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn |
Hafnium |
1923 |
Dirk Coster and György Hevesy |
Rhenium |
1925 |
Walter Noddack and Ida Tacke |
Technetium |
1937 |
Carlo Perrier and Emilio Segrè |
First synthetic element discovered. Predicted by Mendeleev in 1871 as ekamanganese. |
Francium |
1939 |
Marguerite Derey |
Last naturally occurring element discovered; all elements discovered after it are synthetic. |
Astatine |
1940 |
Dale R. Corson, K.R.Mackenzie, Emilio Segrè |
Later determined to occur naturally in miniscule qunatitites (<25 grams in earth's crust). |
Neptunium |
1940 |
E.M. McMillan & Philip H. Abelson, University of California, Berkeley |
First transuranium element discovered. |
Plutonium |
1941 |
Glenn T. Seaborg, Arthur C. Wahl, Joseph W. Kennedy, Emilio Segrè |
Curium |
1944 |
Glenn T. Seaborg |
Americium |
1944 |
Glenn T. Seaborg |
Promethium |
1945 |
Jacob A. Marinsky |
Berkelium |
1949 |
Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Stanley G. Thompson, Kenneth Street Jr. |
Californium |
1950 |
Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Stanley G. Thompson, Kenneth Street Jr. |
Einsteinium |
1952 |
Argonne Laboratory, Los Alamos Laboratory, and University of California |
Fermium |
1953 |
Argonne Laboratory, Los Alamos Laboratory, and University of California |
Mendelevium |
1955 |
Glenn T. Seaborg, Evans G. Valens |
Nobelium |
1958 |
Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, John R. Walton and Torbørn Sikkeland |
Lawrencium |
1961 |
Albert Ghiorso, Torbjørn Sikkeland, Almon Larsh and Robert M. Latimer |
Rutherfordium |
1964 |
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at Dubna, U.S.S.R. |
Dubnium |
1970 |
Albert Ghiorso |
Seaborgium |
1974 |
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and University of California, Berkeley |
Bohrium |
1976 |
Y. Oganessian et al, Dubna and confirmed at GSI (1982) |
Meitnerium |
1982 |
Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg, GSI |
Hassium |
1984 |
Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg |
Darmstadtium |
1994 |
S. Hofmann, V. Ninov et al, GSI |
Roentgenium |
1994 |
S. Hofmann, V. Ninov et al, GSI |
Ununbium |
1996 |
S. Hofmann, V. Ninov et al, GSI |
Ununquadium |
1999 |
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at Dubna |