2019 International Year of the Periodic Table Timeline of Elements

Timeline of Elements poster.

The Periodic Table represents more than 5,000 years of human discovery. We marked the 2019 International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT) with a worldwide collaboration that chronicles this amazing story in a timeline illustrated by students from 118 schools in 28 countries. 

Learn about the discovery of the elements through several resources on this site, all linked below:

  • Explore the eight time periods, which include an abridged history of the challenges and breakthroughs that contributed to the modern periodic table 150 years ago.
  • Watch the periodic table "grow" with each time period in our latest video.
  • Click on the poster image for the interactive PDF, which links each element tile to its time period and detailed history. The image gallery offers enlarged views of the artwork, organized by atomic number.