Dmitri Mendeleev (1834-1907) is known as the inventor of the Periodic Table of the Elements which he first published in 1869 in his book “Principles of Chemistry”.

Previously scientists attempted to organize the elements by listing them in order of atomic mass but that method didn’t adequately explain the relationships between the elements. Mendeleev re-organized the list into a table. He put the elements in order horizontally by atomic mass and vertically by similar chemical properties. He also left “blanks” in his table for missing elements, many of which were discovered years later and fit his predictions.

Mendeleev’s periodic table of the elements allows us to learn more about each element. Because the elements are listed in horizontal rows of the table by atomic mass, this tells us by the number of protons in the nucleus of its atoms. Because the elements are in columns based on similar chemical reactivity this tells us about the number of electrons in its outer valence shell. We can therefore predict physical properties and chemical reactivities of elements and can write formulas of compounds. Physical properties, such as the ability to conduct electricity or heat and malleability or brittleness, may also be predicted from the position of an element on the Periodic Table.

Mendeleev allowed future generations of scientists to excel by providing an extremely useful framework to classify, systematize and compare all the many different forms of chemical behaviour! Mendeleev’s table has also found wide application in physics, biology, engineering, and industry.

This is an excellent example of a good organizational system allowing scientific advancement!

If you’re looking for a really cool demonstration of how the Periodic Table actually works, check out the University of Nottingham’s Periodic Videos. Click on almost any element in the table to see some really cool experiments with that element!

P.S. It isn’t only geeky little me that thinks the Periodic Table is cool. Check out this New York Times article entitled “Everything it Its Place”.

As professional organizers, one of the most important things we do is develop systems of classification so that our clients can find what they need when they need it. This isn’t a new idea. There is a whole branch of science concerned with classification called taxonomy. It comes from the Greek words “taxis” meaning “order” and “nomos” meaning “law” or “science”.

So today I would like to introduce the Father of Taxonomy – Carl von Linnaeus (1707-1778). He developed a system for classifying living organisms — yes folks, ALL LIFE ON EARTH!

Linnaeus was not the first scientist to recognize that different species could grouped together based on some common characteristics. Aristotle organized life forms into a hierarchical structure with plants on the bottom, animals in the middle and humans on the top and medieval scholars used Aristotle’s ideas and the Bible to “prove” God’s benevolent organization of the world.

Until Linnaeus’s time however, scientists arbitrarily gave the species they classified complicated Latin names, which they changed whenever they wished, depending on which other species they were classifying at the time. This meant that two different scientists could be identifying the same thing but have named it differently. How confusing!

Linnaeus published a revolutionary book Systema Naturae, in 1735. It outlined his scheme for classifying all known and yet to be discovered life forms. This method of organization was accepted as the standard by the early 1800′s. Using this method of classification, Linnaeus, during his lifetime classified about 4,400 species of animals and about 7,700 species of plants.

The classification system that Linnaeus built is still used today and with the birth of molecular biology (protein and DNA sequencing) and the ability to track embryonic development, scientists are able to better classify living things.

Linnaeus was a remarkable scientist for standardizing the names of species and communicating that information so all other scientists could follow his system. His system was easy to understand, simple to apply and easily modified to accommodate changes and new developments. These are exactly the traits of an organizational system that I strive to build for my clients!