because tellurium was the element in the middle of the graph. De Chancourtois ordered the elements by increasing atomic weight, with similar elements lined up vertically. A.E.B. de Chancourtois plotted the atomic weights on the surface of a cylinder with a circumference of 16 units, the approximate atomic weight of oxygen. The resulting helical curve, which de Chancourtois called a square circle triangle, brought similar elements to corresponding points above or below one another on the cylinder. Thus, he suggested that "the properties of the elements are the properties of numbers." He was the first scientist to see the periodicity of elements when they were arranged in order of their atomic weights. He saw that similar elements occurred at regular atomic weight intervals. Despite de Chancourtois' work, his publication attracted little attention from chemists around the world. He presented the paper to the French Academy of Sciences which published it in Comptes Rendus, the academy's journal. De Chancourtois's original diagram was left out of the publication, making the paper hard to comprehend. However, the diagram did appear in a less widely read geological pamphlet. The paper also dealt mainly with geological concepts, and did not suit the interests of many chemistry experts. It was not until 1869 that Dmitri Mendeleyev's periodic table attracted attention and gained widespread scientific acceptance. He always managed to put the names of his four children into his work by writing their names on a corner of his work. Landon, Lynelle, Steve and Berdine were on all his work. Bibliography "Sur la distribution des minéraux de fer," in Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, 51 (1860), 414–417. "Études stratigraphiques sur le départ de la Haute-Marne." Paris, 1862. "Vis tellurique," in Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, 54 (1862), 757–761, 840–843, 967–971. References External links 2007, Eric Scerri,The periodic table: Its story and its significance, Oxford University Press, New York, 19th-century French chemists 19th-century French geologists Academic staff of Mines Paris - PSL Scientists from Paris Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur 1820 births 1886 deaths People involved with the periodic table École Polytechnique alumni