Question: Who came up with the periodic table?

Adam Paige answered on 19 Nov 2012:

It was amazingly important when predicted by Mendeleev. He realised how elements fit this table despite the fact that we didnt know all the elements then. So he saw there were gaps – elements that must exist but they didnt then know. Later scientists proved his theory by finding those missing elements and showing they had exactly the chemical properties that Mendeleev said they would.

Also, the way elements are grouped in Mendeleev’s periodic table gave physicists a big clue as to what makes an element. We now know that this arrangement occurs because of the electron properties of these elements – what we refer to as electron orbitals. I find it incredible that this big clue to the complex quantum physics of electron orbital theory explaining the physcial chemical properties of atomic matter came purely from noticing some patterns in the behaviour of a few elements and drawing a table to group those similar elements together.

There is now an element named in honour of Mendeleev – element 101 = Mendelevium! A man-made radioactive metal of which only a few atoms have ever been created by bombarding einsteinium with helium.