the Periodic Table of Elements is one the most
well know icons in science

its creation, in 1869, by Russian Chemist
Dmitri Mendeleev was one of science's greatest
achievements; laying the groundwork for
20th century chemistry and physics

the video below gives a sense of the inspiration,
experimentation and breakthrough experienced by
Mendeleev in 1869

it's the archetypal story of the scientist on the
brink of a world-changing discovery

the video opens with these lines,

in the restless imagination of a young scientist
a realization began to take shape,
that perhaps there was an underlying order
to all the elements on earth

one night in 1869, Mendeleev
shut himself into his cottage by the Black Sea,
determined to decipher the secret code of matter



the above video is a brief excerpt from
Stephen Hawking's Universe