Professor Greg Girolami and Dr. Vera Mainz organized a symposium celebrating the 150th anniversary of the periodic table, held last week in conjunction with the American Chemical Society’s national meeting in San Diego.
They were interviewed by The New York Times for their August 27, 2019 story about the periodic table’s history and changing design. An excerpt follows.
“If you tell me an element is in a certain place,” Dr. Girolami said, “I can tell you lots of things about it — whether it’s a metal or not, whether it is abundant on earth or not — simply by noting its location in the periodic table.”
Dr. Mainz added, “If you want to communicate with an alien race, put up a periodic table, because that arrangement is universal no matter where you are.”
Read the full story here: Is It Time to Upend the Periodic Table?