- Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois
Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois (
January 20 ,1820 –November 14 ,1886 ) was a Frenchgeologist and mineralogist who was the first to arrange thechemical element s in order ofatomic weight s, doing so in 1862. De Chancourtois only published his paper, but did not publish his actual graph with the proposed arrangement. [cite web| title = Organizing the Elements| publisher = | author = | date = | url = http://www.3rd1000.com/history/periodic.htm| accessdate = 2007-02-09 ] Although his publication was significant, it was ignored by chemists as it was written in terms ofgeology . It wasDmitri Mendeleyev 's table published in 1869 that became most recognized. [fr icon cite web| title = Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois (1820-1886)| publisher = | author = | date = | url = http://www.annales.org/archives/x/chancourtois.html| accessdate = 2007-02-09 ] De Chancourtois was also a professor of mine surveying, and later geology at theÉcole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris . He also was the Inspector of Mines inParis , and was widely responsible for implementing many mine safety regulations and laws during the time.fr icon cite web| title = Notice Nécrologiqu sur M.A.E. Béguyer de Chancourtois, Inspecteur Général des Mines| publisher = Annales des Mines| author = Philippe Jacques Edmond Fuchs| date = 1887| url = http://www.annales.org/archives/x/chancourtois2.html| accessdate = 2007-02-11 ]Life
De Chancourtois was born in Paris. At age eighteen, he entered the renowned
École Polytechnique , one of the best known Frenchgrandes écoles ofengineering andmanagement . While he was there, de Chancourtois was a pupil of three famous French scientists,Jean-Baptiste Élie de Beaumont ,Pierre Guillaume Frédéric le Play , andOurs-Pierre-Armand Petit-Dufrénoy . After completing his studies at École Polytechnique, de Chancourtois went on a geological expedition intoHungary ,Armenia andTurkey . In 1848, de Chancourtois went back toParis and joined the teaching faculty as professor of mine surveying at theÉcole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris . He worked withPierre Guillaume Frédéric le Play to organize a collection of minerals for the French government. In 1852, De Chancourtois was named the professor ofgeology at École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris. [cite web| title = Development of the Periodic Chart| publisher = | author = | date =March 23 2002 | url = http://homepage.mac.com/dtrapp/periodic.f/periodicity.html| accessdate = 2007-02-09 ] In 1867, de Chancourtois was awarded theLégion d'honneur byNapoleon III of France . De Chancourtois led several overseas expeditions during the course of his life and served as the Inspector of Mines inParis from 1875 until his death. As a mine inspector, he introduced safety laws to prevent methane gas explosions, which were frequent occurrences at the time.cite web| title = The Development of the Periodic Table: Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois| publisher = Royal Society of Chemistry| author = | date = | url = http://www.chemsoc.org/networks/learnnet/periodictable/scientists/index.htm?chancourtois.htm| accessdate = 2007-02-09 ]Organizing the elements
In 1862, a year before
John Alexander Reina Newlands published his classification of the elements, de Chancourtois created a fully-functioning and unique system of organizing thechemical element s. His proposed classification of elements was based on the newest values of atomic weights obtained byStanislao Cannizzaro in 1858.cite web| title = Periodic Law and Table| publisher =Britannica | author =Linus Pauling | date = 1997| url = http://www.britannica.com/nobel/macro/5001_20_45.html| accessdate = 2007-02-09 ] De Chancourtois devised a spiral graph that was arranged on a cylinder which he called "vis tellurique", ortelluric helix becausetellurium was the element in the middle of the graph. De Chancourtois ordered the elements by increasing atomic weight and with similar elements lined up vertically.cite web| title = Early Attempts at the Periodic Table| publisher =Infoplease | author = | date = | url = http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0905215.html| accessdate = 2007-02-09 ]A.E.B. de Chancourtois plotted the atomic weights on the surface of a cylinder with a circumference of 16 units, the approximate atomic weight of
oxygen . The resulting helical curve, which de Chancourtois called atelluric helix, brought similar elements onto corresponding points above or below one another on the cylinder. Thus, he suggested that "the properties of the elements are the properties of numbers." He was the first scientist to see the periodicity of elements when they were arranged in order of their atomic weights. He saw that the similar elements occurred at regular atomic weight intervals. Despite de Chancourtois' work, his publication attracted little attention fromchemist s around the world. He presented the paper to theFrench Academy of Sciences which published it in "Comptes Rendus", the academy's journal. [cite web| author = M. Beguyer de Chancourtois| title = Mémoire sur un classement naturel des corps simples ou radicaux appelé vis tellurique 54, 757-761| publisher = "Comptes rendus"| date = 1862| url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k30115/f757.chemindefer| accessdate = 2008-01-21 ] De Chancourtois's original diagram was left out of the publication, making the paper hard to comprehend. However, the diagram did appear in a less widely-read geological pamphlet. The paper also dealt mainly with geological concepts, and did not suit the interests of many chemistry experts. It was not until 1869 thatDmitri Mendeleyev 'speriodic table attracted attention and gained widespread scientific acceptance.References
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