Periodic table of elements/Bibliography

Please sort and annotate in a user-friendly manner. For formatting, consider using automated reference wikification.

• F.P.Venable. (1896) The Development of the Periodic Law. Chemical Publishing Co.: Easton, PA. | Read Online.
  • Detailed history of the periodic system, lacking discussion of the role of modern physics in understanding the periodic system.

• J. Van Spronsen. (1969) The Periodic System of the Chemical Elements, the First One Hundred Years. Elsevier: Amsterdam.
  • Detailed history of the periodic system, one of the few such histories.

• E. Mazurs. (1974) The Graphic Representation of the Periodic System During 100 Years. University of Alabama Press: Tuscaloosa.
  • The many ways the periodic system has been graphically represented, over 700 examples, with attempt at classifying them logically.

• Atkins PW. (1995) The Periodic Kingdom: A Journey into the Land of the Chemical Elements. Basic Books: New York. ISBN 0465072658.
  • "I have presented the periodic table as a kind of travel guide to an imaginary country, of which the elements are the various regions. This kingdom has a geography: the elements lie in particular juxtaposition to one another, and they are used to produce goods, much as a prairie produces wheat and a lake produces fish. It also has a history. Indeed, it has three kinds of history: the elements were discovered much as the lands of the world were discovered; the kingdom was mapped, just as the world was mapped, and the relative positions of the elements came to take on a great significance; and the elements have their own cosmic history, which can be traced back to the stars."

• Strathern P.(2001) Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest for the Elements. Thomas Dune Books: New York. ISBN 9780312262044. | Google Books preview.
  • The history of chemistry through the quest for the elements.

• Sacks O. (2001) "Mendeleev's Garden." Chapter 16, pp. 186-211, In: Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood. Alfred A. Knopf: New York. ISBN 978-0375704048.
  • "In 1945 the Science Museum in South Kensington reopened (it had been closed for much of the war), and I first saw the giant periodic table displayed there. The table itself, covering a whole wall at the head of the stairs, was a cabinet made of dark wood with ninety-odd cubicles, each inscribed with the name, the atomic weight, and the chemical symbol of its element. And in each cubicle was a sample of the element itself (all of those elements, at least, which had been obtained in pure form, and which could be exhibited safely). It was labeled "The Periodic Classification of the Elements—after Mendeleeff"." Sacks proceeds to describe what he saw in each cubicle, and the impressions they made on him, how the periodicity manifested, interspersed with briefs comments on chemists who had studied the elements before Mendeleev's periodic organization, and including a history of Mendeleev's discovery. Interestingly, Sacks states that on his second visit "I found myself looking at the table in almost geographic terms, as a realm, with different territories and boundaries." That geographic theme Peter Atkins developed as a book, The Periodic Kingdom, in 1995, listed in this bibliography.

• Wiker B, Bendick J, Schulenderfritiz T. (2003) The Mystery of the Periodic Table. Bethlehem Books: Barthgate, N.D. ISBN 1888393771X. | Google Books preview. Targeting young readers and curious non-scientist adults.

• Morris R. (2003) The Last Sorcerers: The Path from Alchemy to the Periodic Table. Joseph Henry Press: Washinton, D.C. ISBN 0-309-08905-0. | Google Books preview.
  • "As the field [chemistry] slowly progressed, another pioneer was to emerged almost 100 years later. Dimitri Mendeleev, an eccentric genius who cut his flowing hair and beard but once a year, sought to answer the most pressing questions that remained to chemists: Why did some elements have properties that resembled those of others? Were there certain natural groups of elements? And, if so, how many, and what elements fit into them? It was Mendeleev who finally addressed all these issues when he constructed the first Periodic Table in the late 1800s."
  • Chapter Titles: The Four Elements; Prelude to the Birth of Chemistry; The Sceptical Chymist; The Discovery of the Elements; A Nail for the Coffin; "Only an Instant to Cut Off That Head"; The Atom; Problems with Atoms; The Periodic Law; Deciphering the Atom; Epilogue: The Continuing Search; Appendix: A Catalog of the Elements; Further Reading; Index.

• Gordin,MD. (2004) A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table. Basic Books: New York. ISBN 046502775X. | Google Books preview.
  • A three-dimensional portrait of Mendeleev's extraordinary life and work.

• Scerri ER. (2007) The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance. New York: Oxford University Press. | Google Books preview.
  • “The one definitive text on the development of the periodic table by van Spronsen (1969), has been out of print for a considerable time. The present book provides a successor to van Spronsen, but goes further in giving an evaluation of the extent to which modern physics has, or has not, explained the periodic system.”

• Cooper SK. (2007) The Periodic Table: Mapping the Elements. Coughlan Publishing. ISBN 9780756519612. | Google Books preview.
  • For young adults, extensively illustrated. How it begins: " In 1875, French chemist Paul Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovered the element gallium, a silver-colored metal. In 1878, Swedish chemist Lars Nilson discovered the element scandium in a couple of minerals that were thought to be unique to Scandinavia. And in 1886. German chemist Clemens Winkler discovered germanium, which he patriotically named for his country...These pioneering chemists were proud to have found and named the new elements. The discoveries were significant contributions to science. However, Dimitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemist, had predicted their existence years before. In 1871. Mendeleev had published..."

• Leigh GJ. (2009) Periodic Tables and IUPAC. Chemistry International 31(1):Jan-Feb. (The News Magazine of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry [IUPAC]) Last accessed page modified 6-Jan-2009 on 15-Mar-2010.
  • IUPAC does not officially approve any particular variant of the periodic table, gives criteria to be met before one submits a variant for consideration of IUPAC approval.