Original version

BBC World Service Online

The Forum

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

The Forum: The alphabet of chemistry

Discussion & Talk

Periodic Table of the Elements.  Photo credit: Getty Creative

20/01/2018 GMT

The alphabet of chemistry

BBC World Service - The Forum, The alphabet of chemistry

The history of the Periodic Table of the elements

History of the Periodic Table of the elements. With Quentin Cooper, Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Eugene Babaev, Michael Gordin and Ann Robinson.

The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev attempted nothing less than to pull apart the fabric of reality and expose the hidden patterns that lie beneath everything in existence, from shoes and ships and sealing wax to cabbages and kings. The result was something known to almost everyone who has ever been to school: the Periodic Table of the elements.  But why this particular arrangement?  And why is it still the foundation of chemistry?

Quentin Cooper is joined by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, who since he was a teenager has collected samples of elements and has drawn on his samples and knowledge to write Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements; 
Michael Gordin, Professor of History at Princeton University and the author of A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitri Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table;
Ann Robinson, Historian at the University of Massachusetts studying the development of the periodic table;
And Eugene Babaev, Professor of Chemistry at Moscow State University who maintains both Russian and English websites on Mendeleev and his work.

Photo: Periodic Table Concept Illustration. (Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Forum

The alphabet of chemistry

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service