MEPX
Chapter 3 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Before modern science
  2. 2The scientific revolution
  3. 3Chemistry and the elements
  4. 4Life sciences
  5. 5Modern physics
  6. 6The molecular era
  7. 7Computing and mathematics
  8. 8Astronomy and space
  9. 9Medicine and public health
  10. 10What the record shows

Chapter 3 of 10

Chemistry and the elements

Order in matter.

Foundations

Lavoisier established conservation of mass and named oxygen, and Dalton reintroduced atoms as an explanation for fixed proportions.

  • Marie-Anne Lavoisier translated and illustrated much of the work.
  • Mendeleev's table predicted elements not yet discovered.

Radioactivity

Marie Curie, working with Pierre Curie, isolated polonium and radium and coined the term radioactivity. She won Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.