The Mystery of Matter: Search for the Elements
The Mystery of Matter: Search for the Elements is a three-part PBS documentary series hosted by Michael Emerson, describing the search for the basic chemical elements that form matter by focusing on the lives and times of seven scientific visionaries.
What is the world made of? This is the story about seven scientific explorers who seeked to identify, understand and organize the basic building blocks of matter. They are: Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier, whose discovery of oxygen led to the modern science of chemistry;
Humphry Davy, who made electricity a powerful new tool in the search for elements; Dmitri Mendeleev invent the Periodic Table; Marie Curie, who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity; Harry Moseley, whose investigation of atomic number redefined the Periodic Table;
Glenn Seaborg, whose discovery of plutonium opened up a whole new realm of elements still being explored today.
| Episode 1 - Out of Thin Air, 1754-1806 |
Episode 1 - Out of Thin Air, 1754-1806
Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier, whose discovery of oxygen led to the modern science of chemistry; Humphry Davy, who made electricity a powerful new tool in the search for elements.
Episode 2 - Unruly Elements, 1859-1902
Dmitri Mendeleev invents the periodic table, bringing order to the understanding of the elements for the first time; Marie Curie discovers several elements, including polonium and radium, and discovers radioactivity.
Episode 3 - Into the Atom, 1910-1960
Henry Moseley investigates atomic numbers and uncovers new details about the periodic table using X-ray spectroscopy; Glenn Seaborg creates plutonium, making nuclear weapons possible, and discovers related transuranium elements.
| Related Links |
| Chemistry: A volatile history This is a BBC documentary series presented by Professor Jim Al-Khalili, tracing the story of how the elements - the building blocks that make up our entire world - were discovered and mapped. |
| Hunting the Elements Where do nature's building blocks, called the elements, come from? They're the hidden ingredients of everything in our world, from the carbon in our bodies to the metals in our smartphones. |
| 100 Greatest Discoveries: Chemistry This episode recounts thirteen important discoveries in chemistry, including Joseph Priestley's discovery of oxygen, John Dalton's atomic theory, and Dmitry Mendeleev's discovery of periodic table of elements. |
| The Story of Science This is a BBC science documentary series presented by Michael Mosley, exploring how the evolution of scientific understanding is intimately interwoven with society's historical path. |
| Elements of Chemistry by Antoine Lavoisier This is a collection of eBooks of Antoine Lavoisier's Elements of Chemistry, first published in 1789. |
| Dmitri Mendeleev and the Periodic Table This is a collection of eBooks, web documents and films about Dmitri Mendeleev and the periodic table - a tabular display of the chemical elements. |
| Marie Curie, A Biography This is a collection of e-books, web documents and films about Marie Curie, a French-Polish physicist and chemist, famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. |