214 years since elements were first represented by symbols
On September 3, 1803, British chemist John Dalton, considered the father of modern atomic theory, started using encircled symbols and letters to represent various elements. A decade later Swedish chemist Jakob Berzelius simplified the system, using primarily Latin-based letters. However, it was in 1869 that Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev created the periodic table much like the one used today.