Elements sorted by their year of discovery
name
carbon
sulfur
copper
gold
silver
antimony
tin
lead
iron
zinc
mercury
arsenic
bismuth
platinum
phosphorus
cobalt
nickel
magnesium
hydrogen
nitrogen
oxygen
chlorine
manganese
molybdenum
tellurium
tungsten
zirconium
uranium
strontium
titanium
yttrium
beryllium
chromium
vanadium
niobium
tantalum
rhodium
id year
5000 BC
5000 BC
5000 BC
5000 BC
4000 BC
3000 BC
2500 BC
2500 BC
2000 BC
2000 BC
1500 BC
1250
1540
1557
1669
1735
1751
1755
1766
1772
1774
1774
1774
1778
1782
1783
1789
1789
1790
1791
1794
1797
1797
1801
1801
1802
1803
name
palladium
cerium
osmium
iridium
sodium
potassium
boron
calcium
barium
before iodine
periodic lithium
table selenium
in 1869 cadmium
silicon
aluminum
bromine
thorium
lanthanum
erbium
terbium
ruthenium
cesium
rubidium
thallium
indium
gallium
holmium
ytterbium
scandium
samarium
thulium
gadolinium
fluorine
germanium
dysprosium
helium
argon
id year
1803
1803
1803
1803
1807
1807
1808
1808
1808
1811
1817
1817
1817
1824
1825
1826
1829
1839
1842
1843
1844
1860
1861
1861
1863
1875
1878
1878
1879
1879
1879
1880
1886
1886
1886
1894
1894
name
praseodymium
neodymium
neon
krypton
xenon
polonium
radium
actinium
radon
europium
lutetium
protactinium
hafnium
rhenium
technetium
francium
astatine
neptunium
plutonium
americium
curium
promethium
berkelium
californium
einsteinium
fermium
mendelevium
nobelium
after lawrencium
periodic rutherfordium
table dubnium
in 1869 seaborgium
bohrium
meitnerium
hasseium
darmstadtium
roentgenium
id year
1895
1895
1898
1898
1898
1898
1898
1899
1900
1901
1907
1917
1923
1925
1937
1939
1940
1940
1940
1944
1944
1945
1949
1950
1952
1952
1955
1958
1961
1964
1967
1974
1976
1982
1984
1994
1994
Elements named after colors
chlorine (17) - Greek for 'yellowish green'
cesium (55) - Latin for 'sky blue', spectral lines
bismuth (83) - German for 'white mass'
gold (79) - PIE for 'yellow, bright'
indium (49) - indigo color of major spectral line
iodine (53) - greek word for violet, color of gas
iridium (77) - Latin word for rainbow, multicolored salts
praseodymium (59) - Greek for 'green twin'
rhodium (75) - Greek for 'rose'
rubidium (37) - Latin for 'deepest red', spectral color
sulfur (16) - Arabic for 'yellow', natural color
thallium (81) - Greek for 'green shoot/twig', spectral color
Elements named after real people
bohrium (107) - Neils Bohr
copernicium (112) - Nicolaus Copernicus
curium (96) - Marie and Pierre Curie
einsteinium (99) - Albert Einstein
fermium (100) - Enrico Fermi
gadolinium (64) - Johan Gadolin
gallium (31) - Lecoq de Boisbaudran (first name
Lecoq means 'the rooster' or gallus in Latin)
lawrencium (103) - Ernest Lawrence
meitnerium (109) - Lise Meitner
mendelevium (101) - Dmitri Mendelev
nobelium (102) - Alfred Nobel
roentgenium (111) - Wilhelm Roentgen
rutherfordium (104) - Ernest Rutherford
seaborgium (106) - Glenn Seaborg
Elements named after real places
americium (95) - America
berkelium (97) - Berkely, CA
californium (98) - um, California
darmstadtium (110) - Darmstadt, Germany
location of lab where discovered
dubnium (105) - Dubna, Russia location of lab
where discovered
erbium (68) - Ytterby, Sweden - village where
large deposit was found
europium (63) - um, Europe
francium (87) - France
gallium (31) - Gaul, ancient France in Latin
germanium (32) - Germany
hafnium (72) - Copenhagen in Latin
hassium (108) - Hesse, German location of lab
where discovered
holmium (67) - Stockholm in Latin
lutetium (71) - Paris in Latin
magnesium (12) - Magnesia, a district in
Thessaly, where discovered
polonium (84) - Poland
rhenium (45) - Rhine River in Latin
ruthenium (44) - Russia in Latin
scandium (21) - Scandanavia in Latin
strontium (38) - Strontian, soruce of mineral ,
village in Scotland
terbium (65) - Ytterby, Sweden - village where
large deposit was found
thulium (69) - Roman/Greek name for far
northern country, perhaps Scandanavia
ytterbium (70) - Ytterby, Sweden - village where
large deposit was found
yttrium (39) - Ytterby, Sweden - village where
large deposit was found
Elements named after mythological people
cerium (58) - Ceres (an asteroid), named for Ceres, goddess of fertility
cobalt (27) - German word Kobold meaning 'evil spirit'
helium (2) - 'the Sun' or sun god
iridium (77) - Iris, Greek goddess of rainbows
mercury (80) - Greek god of speed
neptunium (93) - planet Neptune, Greek god of oceans
niobium (41) - daughter of Tantalus in Greek
palladium (46) - Pallas (an asteroid), named for Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom
plutonium (94) - Pluto, named after Roman god of the dead
promethium (61) - Prometheus, Greek titan who stole fire
selenium (34) - moon goddess Selene
tantalum (73) - Greek titan Tantalus
tellurium (52) - Latin name for Mother Earth goddess
thorium (90) - Norse god Thor
titanium (22) - greek Titans
uranium (92) - planet Uranus, Greek god of sky
vanadium (23) - Vanadis, another name of Freyja in Norse mythology
Liquids at room temp
mercury
bromine
Gases at room temp
hydrogen
chlorine
helium
argon
nitrogen
krypton
oxygen
xenon
fluorine
radon
neon