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Ponderables: 100 Discoveries that Changed History, Who Did What When
The Elements: An Illustrated History of the Periodic Table
In 1869 Dmitri Mendeleev presented the world with the Periodic Table. It contained 63 elements, many more than the four—earth, water, fire, and air—established in the ancient world, but less than half the total in our modern table. Mendeleev believed there were many elements still to come.
He was right.
In this essential guide to the Periodic Table, we track the history of the powerful yet elegant tool that lays bare the building blocks of the Universe. The journey begins just as the first cities are forming, and follows the contributions made by philosophers, alchemists, industrialists, and great scientists as they gather force to create this masterpiece of accumulated knowledge. The story includes Democritus of ancient Greece who said that the four elements of nature—earth, water, fire, and air—must be made of atoms, otherwise our world is just an illusion, and the French aristocrat Antoine Lavoisier, who was the first to show that water is not an element at all. With over three hundred illustrations, it opens a window into the very stuff of nature—stars, rocks, life, and more—and shows us the way to make even smarter technologies.
From the ancient Greek philosopher who noticed the unusual force exerted by amber, to the alchemist who boiled urine until it glowed in the dark, to the British inventor who described the powerful effect of electricity on a dead body to Mary Shelley (before she wrote Frankenstein) to the theologian who observed mice becoming unconscious when dangled over brewing beer, the discovery of the elements is a story with many chapters, each adding to our understanding of these basic substances that make up the world around us. The thoughts and deeds of great thinkers always make great stories and here are a hundred of the most significant. Each story relates a confounding puzzle that became a discovery and changed the way we see the world. We call these Ponderables.
What will great thinkers ponder next? How will new contributions add to our understanding of the universe? Take a glimpse at the Imponderables, the mysteries still to be solved, for an insight into future great discoveries.
Includes a removable fold-out concertina neatly housed in the back of the book. This fold-out provides a 12-page Timeline History of the Periodic Table that embeds the story of chemistry in historical context and shows Who Did What When at a glance. On the reverse side is a 12-page Chart of Elements in Atomic Order providing scientific data for all 118 elements, as well as their primary source and use.
He was right.
In this essential guide to the Periodic Table, we track the history of the powerful yet elegant tool that lays bare the building blocks of the Universe. The journey begins just as the first cities are forming, and follows the contributions made by philosophers, alchemists, industrialists, and great scientists as they gather force to create this masterpiece of accumulated knowledge. The story includes Democritus of ancient Greece who said that the four elements of nature—earth, water, fire, and air—must be made of atoms, otherwise our world is just an illusion, and the French aristocrat Antoine Lavoisier, who was the first to show that water is not an element at all. With over three hundred illustrations, it opens a window into the very stuff of nature—stars, rocks, life, and more—and shows us the way to make even smarter technologies.
From the ancient Greek philosopher who noticed the unusual force exerted by amber, to the alchemist who boiled urine until it glowed in the dark, to the British inventor who described the powerful effect of electricity on a dead body to Mary Shelley (before she wrote Frankenstein) to the theologian who observed mice becoming unconscious when dangled over brewing beer, the discovery of the elements is a story with many chapters, each adding to our understanding of these basic substances that make up the world around us. The thoughts and deeds of great thinkers always make great stories and here are a hundred of the most significant. Each story relates a confounding puzzle that became a discovery and changed the way we see the world. We call these Ponderables.
What will great thinkers ponder next? How will new contributions add to our understanding of the universe? Take a glimpse at the Imponderables, the mysteries still to be solved, for an insight into future great discoveries.
Includes a removable fold-out concertina neatly housed in the back of the book. This fold-out provides a 12-page Timeline History of the Periodic Table that embeds the story of chemistry in historical context and shows Who Did What When at a glance. On the reverse side is a 12-page Chart of Elements in Atomic Order providing scientific data for all 118 elements, as well as their primary source and use.
- GenresScienceNonfictionHistory
168 pages, Hardcover
First published October 9, 2012
14 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Tom Jackson
632 books56 followers"I'm a non-fiction author and project editor (plus I do a bit of journalism). I'm available for project development, writing, project management and I also work as a packager. Click on the links above to see examples of my work.
But first some background: Over the last 20 years, I've written books, magazine and newspaper articles, for online and for television. I get to write about a wide range of subjects, everything from axolotls to zoroastrianism. However, my specialties are natural history, technology and all things scientific. I've worked on projects with Brian May, Patrick Moore, Marcus de Sautoy and Carol Vorderman and for major international publishers, such as Dorling Kindersley, National Geographic, Scholastic, Hachette, Facts on File and BBC Magazines.
I spend my days finding fun ways of communicating all kinds of facts, new and old, to every age group and reading ability. I live in Bristol, England, with my wife and three children. I studied zoology at Bristol University and have had spells working at the zoos in Jersey and Surrey. I used to be something of a conservationist, which included planting trees in Somerset, surveying Vietnamese jungle and rescuing buffaloes from drought-ridden Zimbabwe. Writing jobs have also taken me to the Galápagos Islands, the Amazon rainforest, the coral reefs of Indonesia and the Sahara Desert. Nowadays, I can be found mainly in the attic."
~http://tomjackson.weebly.com/
But first some background: Over the last 20 years, I've written books, magazine and newspaper articles, for online and for television. I get to write about a wide range of subjects, everything from axolotls to zoroastrianism. However, my specialties are natural history, technology and all things scientific. I've worked on projects with Brian May, Patrick Moore, Marcus de Sautoy and Carol Vorderman and for major international publishers, such as Dorling Kindersley, National Geographic, Scholastic, Hachette, Facts on File and BBC Magazines.
I spend my days finding fun ways of communicating all kinds of facts, new and old, to every age group and reading ability. I live in Bristol, England, with my wife and three children. I studied zoology at Bristol University and have had spells working at the zoos in Jersey and Surrey. I used to be something of a conservationist, which included planting trees in Somerset, surveying Vietnamese jungle and rescuing buffaloes from drought-ridden Zimbabwe. Writing jobs have also taken me to the Galápagos Islands, the Amazon rainforest, the coral reefs of Indonesia and the Sahara Desert. Nowadays, I can be found mainly in the attic."
~http://tomjackson.weebly.com/
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 11, 2021
This book was an interesting read for anyone getting into the chemistry field and for anyone not getting into the field. It is my belief that knowledge is the strongest thing we have and that it should be used to benefithis would be used to benefit the society. I've been having an interesting time reading this novel and though it has taken quite a while I don't mind. I'm a slow reader and I'm and I am working to get much faster at my reading but this is one of those books where you want to absorb every ounce of the knowledge. The types of books where you need to reread it If you don't have a photographic memory and forget every few things like me.
Because of how it interested me did me and was described in such a wonderful way, it is definitely a 5 star read. So glad that I picked this one up from the Barnes & Noble at the beginning of this year.
Because of how it interested me did me and was described in such a wonderful way, it is definitely a 5 star read. So glad that I picked this one up from the Barnes & Noble at the beginning of this year.
February 23, 2022
On the whole a pretty good book, especially given the breadth that it took for itself subject-wise.
Originally I expected that this was going to be an annotated history of the elements. "This? This is Hydrogen. It was recognized in the year..." "This? This is Helium. Originally it was discovered on the Sun before it was discovered on Earth..." That sort of thing.
It turned out to be a comprehensive history of chemistry, all the way from pre-pre-pre history to our present time. This would probably be an exceptional book in every High School Library.
Originally I expected that this was going to be an annotated history of the elements. "This? This is Hydrogen. It was recognized in the year..." "This? This is Helium. Originally it was discovered on the Sun before it was discovered on Earth..." That sort of thing.
It turned out to be a comprehensive history of chemistry, all the way from pre-pre-pre history to our present time. This would probably be an exceptional book in every High School Library.
January 8, 2025
I'm a big fan of this illustrated history series and have purchased many for our HS library. They're awesome to give context, build vocabulary, and give snippets of information to provide a well-rounded picture of a topic as is the case with this one on the periodic elements.
I always like when topics intersect too as I took a picture of a textbox featuring connections to Greek gods/goddesses for my son who loves that stuff.
I always like when topics intersect too as I took a picture of a textbox featuring connections to Greek gods/goddesses for my son who loves that stuff.
January 31, 2019
Nothing new to me, but some okay stuff in there. 3 things that bugged me:
1) Agua regia is 3 parts hydrochloric acid, 1 part nitric acid. Hydrochloric, not sulfuric as the book gets wrong.
2) The bomb dropped on Nagasaki was Fat Man, not Fat Boy. (Maybe he was thinking of Little Boy.)
3) Ensure is the word he was looking forward whenever he said insure.
1) Agua regia is 3 parts hydrochloric acid, 1 part nitric acid. Hydrochloric, not sulfuric as the book gets wrong.
2) The bomb dropped on Nagasaki was Fat Man, not Fat Boy. (Maybe he was thinking of Little Boy.)
3) Ensure is the word he was looking forward whenever he said insure.
November 7, 2024
An excellent and thorough read about everything chemistry and periodic table related. Reading this aloud to my middle son as part of his science curriculum was an enjoyable experience. Ponderables is a wonderful series and I'm certain we'll read more of them in the next couple of years.
September 10, 2017
Tom Jackson is probably my favorite science history writer, and the level is for middle school.
March 29, 2018
Fast-paced, but no likeable characters.
September 11, 2018
Great Resource
March 8, 2019
172 - 2019
January 31, 2022
I liked this book it was very fun because I like science and math.
March 13, 2023
I enjoyed this book about the history of the periodic table and great scientific discoveries.
July 11, 2015
The book brings 100 milestones in chemistry and an interesting timeline.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews