Kean's Chapter 3 focuses on the history of the periodic table. He begins by talking about Robert Bunsen and how he didn't invent the Bunsen Burner notoriously named after him. Robert Bunsen simply improved upon it. Kean then takes on a journey through the life of Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian scientist known for making the periodic table. Mendeleev focused his work on completing the periodic table and accurately representing it. Although some of his ideas were incorrect such as denying that noble gases and atoms are false, he made outstanding contributions to the world of chemistry. Not only did Mendeleev most accurately depict the period table, he even predict the discovery of new ones too. Gallium, a metal that melts at room temperature was predicted by him as well. Throughout Chapter 3, Kean makes it clear that Mendeleev did not do the work by himself but with the help of six other6 other scientists.
Mendeleev's work highly encouraged the discovery of elements since he stated that there were elements yet to be found. A City in Sweden by the name of Ytterby is home to the most elements discovered. Ytterby has so much amounts of the lanthanide groups that six were discovered there. Ytterby is also home of lanthanide mining in order to discover even more elements. Ytterby also has streets named after minerals and elements. Ytterby's scientific history shows us the work that scientists did for future chemists today.
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