This year has been designated the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT) by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The celebrations mark 150 years since the iconic chart – which contributed greatly to the development of modern chemistry and atomic and nuclear physics – was devised by the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev.
At Physics World, we have been marking the IYPT by picking our favourite elements in the so-called “Battle of the Elements” — a series of blogs making a case for a particular element.
A couple have already been published, including mine, which you can read here. (spoiler: it’s about helium because of its importance for physics experiments).
Dr Michael Banks 