Another Salute to 150 Years of the Periodic Table

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
History of Science
Edward Hessler

As you know the United Nations proclaimed 2019 the International Year of the Periodic Table to call attention to its 150th birthday. "The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements is one of the most significant achievements in science, capturing the essence not only of chemistry, but also of physics, medicine, earth sciences and biology."

Bloomberg Businessweek devotes a "rather jazzy special issue," writes Flora Graham (Nature Briefing, August 29 2019) to the table's elements--one short story for each element. In the introduction economics editor Peter Coy writes "matter still matters" and this issue shows exactly that.

Bret Begun ends this special issue with a report on his mining of  "the depths of the internet for this superlegit, 100% scientific analysis of the most creative, not-at-all natural wonders. And if you want to argue that some of these are compounds or alloys or whatever, put down the jerktonium* and go wave some mithril**."

*Jerktonium (Jt) first found in Sponge Bob Square Pants
**Mithril (Mi) first found in The Lord of the Rings