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University of St. Andrews
A school material containing an initial version of the Periodic Table of Elements was discovered in a chemistry laboratory of the University of St. Andrews. Made in the 1880s, the periodic table was considered the oldest in the world.
The storage room of the chemistry department of the Scottish University had not been well cleaned since the opening of the building in 1968. set in 2014, according to a statement released today. by the University of St. Andrews.
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] When chemist Alan Aitken unfolded one of these documents, he saw an outdated version of the periodic table of elements. At the top was a title in German: "Periodische Gesetzmässigkeit der Elemente nach Mendeleieff", which means "periodic regularity of the elements according to Mendeleev". The paper was extremely fragile and fragile, and parts collapsed into Aitken's hands when he turned around. The poor conditions of the leaf, as well as its archaic array of elements, led to the badumption that it was very old.
A detailed examination of the map and its origins confirmed these suspicions. Yes, the table is very old, dated 1885, according to the university.
The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev developed the first periodic table in 1869 and revised the graph in 1871. The new discovery is quite similar to the revised version, but with important differences. As St. Andrews' statement explains:
The St. Andrews table was clearly one of the first copies. She has notes in German and an inscription in the lower left corner – "Verlag v. Lenoir & Forster, Wien" – identifies a science publishing house that operated in Vienna between 1875 and 1888. Another inscription – " Lith von Hartinger & Sohn, Wien "- identifies the lithographer, died in 1890. In working with the team of special collections, the University [de St. Andrews] sought advice from a number of people. international experts. After further investigation, it seems that there is no prior study diagram with a table of types. Professor Eric Scerri, expert in the history of the periodic table of the University of California at Los Angeles, dated the table between 1879 and 1886 according to the elements represented. For example, gallium and scandium, discovered respectively in 1875 and 1879, are present, unlike germanium discovered in 1886.
A subsequent investigation on the financial records of the university showed that Thomas Purdie, professor at chemistry from 1884 to 1909, bought the map of a German catalog in October 1888. The table itself was manufactured in Vienna in 1885.
The date and origin of the map being established , the authorities of St. Andrews devoted themselves to the task of preserving the relic for posterity. The team of the University's special collection has been commissioned to carry out a restoration with funding from the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust.
Working with care not to damage the table further, the restorers used brushes to remove dust and debris from the surface. They also removed the chart very carefully from their thick linen file. Deionized water was applied to eliminate years of discoloration and Japanese kozo paper and wheat starch paste were used to repair tears and holes.
In the last step, the restorers created a life-sized replica of the painting. is now on display in St. Andrews. As for the original, it now rests safely in a temperature-controlled room in the premises of the Special Collection. We hope that it will not be forgotten before a century.
[University of St. Andrews]
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