Timeline of chemical element discoveries

The discoveries of the 118 chemical elements known to exist as of 2026 are presented here in chronological order. The elements are listed generally in the order in which each was first defined as the pure element, as the exact date of discovery of most elements cannot be accurately determined. There are plans to synthesize more elements, and it is not known how many elements are possible.
Each element's name, atomic number, year of first report, name of the discoverer, and notes related to the discovery are listed.

Periodic table of elements

Graphical timeline

ImageSize = width:1600 height:120 # barincrement:0
PlotArea = top:70 bottom:30 right:10 left:10
AlignBars = justify
Colors =
id:gray1 value:gray legend:Independent
id:gray2 value:gray
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1665 till:2026
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1670
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1665
TextData =
textcolor:black fontsize:s
pos: text:"Au: 40000 BC"
pos: text:"C: 26000 BC"
pos: text:"Cu: 9000 BC"
pos: text:"Pb: 7000 BC"
pos: text:"Ag,"
pos: text:"Fe: by 5000 BC"
pos: text:"Sn: 3500 BC"
pos: text:"Sb: 3000 BC"
pos: text:"S: by 2000 BC"
pos: text:"Hg: 1500 BC"
pos: text:"Zn: by 1000 BC"
pos: text:"Pt: c. 600 BC–AD 200"
# pos: text:"Au: 6000 BC"
pos: text:"As: c. AD 300"
pos: text:"Bi: c. 1500"
PlotData =
# bar:elements width:20 from:1660 till:2020
align:center fontsize:S width:15 shift:
at:1671 mark: text:"H"
shift:
at:1868 mark: text:"He"
shift:
at:1817 mark: text:"Li"
shift:
at:1798 mark: text:"Be"
shift:
at:1787 mark: text:"B"
shift:
at:1772 mark: text:"N"
shift:
at:1771 mark: text:"O"
shift:
at:1771 mark: text:"F"
shift:
at:1898 mark: text:"Ne"
shift:
at:1702 mark: text:"Na"
at:1755 mark: text:"Mg"
at:1746 mark: text:"Al"
shift:
at:1739 mark: text:"Si"
at:1669 mark: text:"P"
shift:
at:1774 mark: text:"Cl"
shift:
at:1894 mark: text:"Ar"
shift:
at:1702 mark: text:"K"
shift:
at:1739 mark: text:"Ca"
shift:
at:1879 mark: text:"Sc"
shift:
at:1791 mark: text:"Ti"
shift:
at:1801 mark: text:"V"
shift:
at:1797 mark: text:"Cr"
shift:
at:1770 mark: text:"Mn"
shift:
at:1735 mark: text:"Co"
at:1751 mark: text:"Ni"
shift:
at:1875 mark: text:"Ga"
shift:
at:1886 mark: text:"Ge"
shift:
at:1817 mark: text:"Se"
shift:
at:1825 mark: text:"Br"
shift:
at:1898 mark: text:"Kr"
shift:
at:1861 mark: text:"Rb"
shift:
at:1790 mark: text:"Sr"
shift:
at:1794 mark: text:"Y"
shift:
at:1789 mark: text:"Zr"
shift:
at:1801 mark: text:"Nb"
shift:
at:1778 mark: text:"Mo"
shift:
at:1937 mark: text:"Tc"
shift:
at:1844 mark: text:"Ru"
at:1804 mark: text:"Rh"
shift:
at:1802 mark: text:"Pd"
shift:
at:1817 mark: text:"Cd"
shift:
at:1863 mark: text:"In"
shift:
at:1782 mark: text:"Te"
shift:
at:1811 mark: text:"I"
shift:
at:1898 mark: text:"Xe"
shift:
at:1860 mark: text:"Cs"
shift:
at:1772 mark: text:"Ba"
shift:
at:1838 mark: text:"La"
shift:
at:1803 mark: text:"Ce"
shift:
at:1885 mark: text:"Pr"
shift:
at:1841 mark: text:"Nd"
shift:
at:1945 mark: text:"Pm"
shift:
at:1879 mark: text:"Sm"
shift:
at:1896 mark: text:"Eu"
shift:
at:1880 mark: text:"Gd"
shift:
at:1843 mark: text:"Tb"
shift:
at:1886 mark: text:"Dy"
shift:
at:1878 mark: text:"Ho"
shift:
at:1843 mark: text:"Er"
shift:
at:1879 mark: text:"Tm"
shift:
at:1878 mark: text:"Yb"
shift:
at:1906 mark: text:"Lu"
shift:
at:1922 mark: text:"Hf"
shift:
at:1802 mark: text:"Ta"
shift:
at:1781 mark: text:"W"
shift:
at:1908 mark: text:"Re"
shift:
at:1803 mark: text:"Os"
shift:
at:1803 mark: text:"Ir"
shift:
at:1861 mark: text:"Tl"
shift:
at:1898 mark: text:"Po"
shift:
at:1940 mark: text:"At"
shift:
at:1899 mark: text:"Rn"
shift:
at:1939 mark: text:"Fr"
shift:
at:1898 mark: text:"Ra"
shift:
at:1902 mark: text:"Ac"
shift:
at:1829 mark: text:"Th"
shift:
at:1913 mark: text:"Pa"
shift:
at:1789 mark: text:"U"
shift:
at:1940 mark: text:"Np"
shift:
at:1941 mark: text:"Pu"
shift:
at:1944 mark: text:"Am"
shift:
at:1944 mark: text:"Cm"
shift:
at:1949 mark: text:"Bk"
shift:
at:1950 mark: text:"Cf"
shift:
at:1952 mark: text:"Es"
shift:
at:1953 mark: text:"Fm"
shift:
at:1955 mark: text:"Md"
shift:
at:1965 mark: text:"No"
shift:
at:1961 mark: text:"Lr"
shift:
at:1969 mark: text:"Rf"
shift:
at:1970 mark: text:"Db"
shift:
at:1974 mark: text:"Sg"
shift:
at:1981 mark: text:"Bh"
shift:
at:1984 mark: text:"Hs"
shift:
at:1982 mark: text:"Mt"
shift:
at:1994 mark: text:"Ds"
shift:
at:1994 mark: text:"Rg"
shift:
at:1996 mark: text:"Cn"
shift:
at:2003 mark: text:"Nh"
shift:
at:1999 mark: text:"Fl"
shift:
at:2003 mark: text:"Mc"
shift:
at:2000 mark: text:"Lv"
shift:
at:2009 mark: text:"Ts"
shift:
at:2002 mark: text:"Og"

Cumulative diagram

Pre-modern and early modern discoveries

Z	Element	Earliest use	Oldest existing sample	Discoverer	Place of oldest sample	Notes
79	Gold	40000 BC	4600 BC – 4200 BC	Earliest humans	Varna Necropolis	Small amounts of natural gold have been found in Spanish caves used during the late Paleolithic period,. The earliest gold artifacts dating to 4600 BC to 4200 BC were discovered at the site of Varna Necropolis, Bulgaria. Recognised as an element by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet, and Fourcroy in 1787.
6	Carbon	26000 BC	26000 BC	Earliest humans		Charcoal and soot were known to the earliest humans, with the oldest known charcoal paintings dating to about 28000 years ago, e.g. Gabarnmung in Australia. The earliest known industrial use of charcoal was for the reduction of copper, zinc, and tin ores in the manufacture of bronze, by the Egyptians and Sumerians. Diamonds were probably known as early as 2500 BC. True chemical analyses were made in the 18th century, and in 1772 Antoine Lavoisier demonstrated that diamond, graphite, and charcoal are all composed of the same substance. In 1787, de Morveau, Fourcroy, and Lavoisier listed carbon as an element, distinguishing it from coal.
29	Copper	9000 BC	6000 BC	Middle East	Asia Minor	It was originally obtained as a native metal and later from the smelting of ores. Earliest estimates of the discovery of copper suggest around 9000 BC in the Middle East. It was one of the most important materials to humans throughout the Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages. Copper beads dating from 6000 BC have been found in Çatalhöyük, Anatolia and the archaeological site of Belovode on the Rudnik mountain in Serbia contains the world's oldest securely dated evidence of copper smelting from 5000 BC. Recognised as an element by Louis Guyton de Morveau, Antoine Lavoisier, Claude Berthollet, and Antoine-François de Fourcroy in 1787.
82	Lead	7000 BC	3800 BC	Asia Minor	Abydos, Egypt	It is believed that lead smelting began at least 9,000 years ago, and the oldest known artifact of lead is a statuette found at the temple of Osiris on the site of Abydos dated around 3800 BC. Recognised as an element by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet, and Fourcroy in 1787.
47	Silver	Before 5000 BC	ca. 4000 BC	Asia Minor	Asia Minor	Estimated to have been discovered in Asia Minor shortly after copper and gold. Recognised as an element by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet, and Fourcroy in 1787.
26	Iron	Before 5000 BC	4000 BC	Middle East	Egypt	There is evidence that iron was known from before 5000 BC. The oldest known iron objects used by humans are some beads of meteoric iron, made in Egypt in about 4000 BC. The discovery of smelting around 3000 BC led to the start of the Iron Age around 1200 BC and the prominent use of iron for tools and weapons. Recognised as an element by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet, and Fourcroy in 1787.
50	Tin	3500 BC	2000 BC	Asia Minor	Kestel	First smelted in combination with copper around 3500 BC to produce bronze. Kestel, in southern Turkey, is the site of an ancient Cassiterite mine that was used from 3250 to 1800 BC. The oldest artifacts date from around 2000 BC. Recognised as an element by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet, and Fourcroy in 1787.
51	Antimony	3000 BC	3000 BC	Sumerians	Middle East	An artifact, said to be part of a vase, made of very pure antimony dating to about 3000 BC was found at Telloh, Chaldea. Dioscorides and Pliny both describe the accidental production of metallic antimony from stibnite, but only seem to recognize the metal as lead. The intentional isolation of antimony is described in the works attributed to the Muslim alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan. In Europe, the metal was being produced and used by 1540, when it was described by Vannoccio Biringuccio. Described again by Georgius Agricola De re metallica in 1556. Probably first recognised as an element by Lavoisier in 1787.
16	Sulfur	Before 2000 BC		Middle East	Middle East	First used at least 4,000 years ago. According to the Ebers Papyrus, a sulfur ointment was used in ancient Egypt to treat granular eyelids. Designated as one of the two elements of which all metals are composed in the sulfur-mercury theory of metals, first described in pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana's Sirr al-khaliqa and in the works attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan. Designated as a universal element by Paracelsus in the early 16th century. Recognized as an element by Lavoisier in 1777, which was supported by John Dalton in 1808 and confirmed by Joseph Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard in 1810.
80	Mercury	1500 BC	1500 BC	Egyptians	Egypt	Cinnabar was used as a pigment from prehistory, dating as far back as the 9th millennium BC in the Middle East. Cinnabar deposits in Turkey, exploited from 8000 years ago, also contain minor amounts of mercury metal. Found in Egyptian tombs dating from 1500 BC. Recognised as an element, first by medieval alchemists, and later by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet, and Fourcroy in 1787.
30	Zinc	Before 1000 BC	1000 BC	Indian metallurgists	Indian subcontinent	Used as a component of brass since antiquity by Indian metallurgists, but its true nature was not generally understood in ancient times. A 4th century BC vase from Taxila is made of brass with a zinc content of 34%, too high to be produced by cementation, providing strong evidence that metallic zinc was known in India by the 4th century BC. Zinc smelting was done in China and India around 1300. Identified as a distinct metal in the Rasaratna Samuccaya around the 14th century of the Christian era and by the alchemist Paracelsus in 1526, who gave it its present name and described it as a new metal. P. M. de Respour isolated it from zinc oxide in 1668; the first detailed documentation of zinc isolation was given by Andreas Sigismund Marggraf in 1746.
78	Platinum	c. 600 BC – AD 200	c. 600 BC – AD 200	Pre-Columbian South Americans	South America	Used by pre-Columbian Americans near modern-day Esmeraldas, Ecuador to produce artifacts of a white gold-platinum alloy, although precise dating is difficult. A small box from the burial of the Pharaoh Shepenupet II was found to be decorated with gold-platinum hieroglyphics, but the Egyptians may not have recognised that there was platinum in their gold. First European description of a metal found in South American gold was in 1557 by Julius Caesar Scaliger. Antonio de Ulloa was on an expedition to Peru in 1735, where he observed the metal; he published his findings in 1748. Charles Wood also investigated the metal in 1741. First reference to it as a new metal was made by William Brownrigg in 1750.
33	Arsenic	c. AD 300	c. AD 300	Egyptians	Middle East	The use of metallic arsenic was described by the Egyptian alchemist Zosimos. The purification of arsenic was later described in the works attributed to the Muslim alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan. Albertus Magnus is typically credited with the description of the metal in the West, though some question his work and instead credit Vannoccio Biringuccio, whose De la pirotechnia distinguishes orpiment from crystalline arsenic. The first to unquestionably have prepared metallic arsenic was Johann Schröder in 1641. Recognised as an element after Lavoisier's definition in 1787.
83	Bismuth			European alchemists and Inca civilisation	Europe and South America	Bismuth was known since ancient times, but often confused with tin and lead, which are chemically similar. The Incas used bismuth in a special bronze alloy for knives. Agricola states that bismuth is a distinct metal in a family of metals including tin and lead. This was based on observation of the metals and their physical properties. Miners in the age of alchemy also gave bismuth the name tectum argenti, or "silver being made" in the sense of silver still in the process of being formed within the Earth. Beginning with Johann Heinrich Pott in 1738, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, and Torbern Olof Bergman, the distinctness of lead and bismuth became clear, and Claude François Geoffroy demonstrated in 1753 that this metal is distinct from lead and tin.