Researchers Find World’s Oldest Classroom Periodic Table

Scientists at the University of St Andrews, UK, believe they have found the earliest surviving example of a classroom periodic table.

The St Andrews periodic table chart is thought to be the oldest in the world. Image credit: University of St Andrews.

Chemist Dmitri Mendeleev made his famous disclosure on periodicity in 1869, the St Andrews table is rather similar, but not identical to Mendeleev’s second table of 1871.

The newfound chart is annotated in German, and an inscription at the bottom left — Verlag v. Lenoir & Forster, Wien — identifies a scientific printer who operated in Vienna between 1875 and 1888. Another inscription — Lith. von Ant. Hartinger & Sohn, Wien — identifies the chart’s lithographer, who died in 1890.

University of California’s Professor Eric Scerri dated the table to between 1879 and 1886 based on the represented elements. For example, both gallium and scandium, discovered in 1875 and 1879 respectively, are present, while germanium, discovered in 1886, is not.

University of St Andrews researcher M Pilar Gil then found an entry in the financial transaction records in the St Andrews archives recording the purchase of an 1885 table by Professor Thomas Purdie from the German catalogue of C Gerhardt (Bonn) for the sum of 3 Marks in October 1888.

This entry and evidence of purchase by mail order appears to define the provenance of the St Andrews periodic table. It was produced in Vienna in 1885 and was purchased by Professor Purdie in 1888.

“The discovery of the world’s oldest classroom periodic table at the University of St Andrews is remarkable,” said Professor David O’Hagan, recent ex-Head of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews.

“The table will be available for research and display at the University and we have a number of events planned in 2019, which has been designated international year of the periodic table by the United Nations, to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the table’s creation by Dmitri Mendeleev.”

“We are delighted that we now know when the oldest known periodic table chart came to St Andrews to be used in teaching,” said Dr. Gabriel Sewell, Head of Special Collections at the University of St Andrews.

“Thanks to the generosity of the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust, the table has been preserved for current and future generations to enjoy and we look forward to making it accessible to all.”