Cool. Harry Terry Blanton wrote:
> http://www.physorg.com/news5816.html > > "The original periodic table, on which the rectangular design most people > studied at school is based, was devised by the Russian chemistry professor > Dimitri Mendeléev in 1869. Listing the elements according to increasing atomic > weight, Mendeléev found that when arranged into horizontal rows, elements with > similar properties appeared at regular intervals in the vertical columns. > There have been numerous renditions of the table since, but most have stuck to > the classic rectangular format. > > In his spare time Philip Stewart, a University Lecturer in Plant Science, set > about creating a design that would both represent the continuityof the > sequence of elements and be visually exciting. Inspired by a mural of the > periodic table created by the artist Edgar Longman for the South Kensington > Science Exhibition, part of the Festival of Britain held in 1951, Mr Stewart > created an image in which the elements are set against a galaxy of stars. > Instead of figuring in adjacent boxes, each element is represented by a > colour-coded circle and all are connected in a spiral, at the centre of which > is the neutron." > > <more> > >
