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Mendeleyevs periodic table, 1869

Mendeleyev's periodic table, 1869. Mendeleyev's periodic table of 1869. This is the first version of the periodic table drawn up by the Russian chemist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev (1834-1907). He left gaps in the table for new elements, that were indeed later discovered, vindicating his theory. This version has the elements listed using chemical symbols, and ordered by atomic weight, but the fully correct chemical arrangement has not yet emerged. The final version (1871) had the elements arranged in the familiar vertical columns or groups. This version is dated (lower left) to 17 February 1869, and Mendeleyev's name is at top. This manuscript is from the Mendeleyev museum. Photographed in St Petersburg, Russia. See also H413/297

© RIA NOVOSTI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Epicycles of Mercury and Venus, 1823

Epicycles of Mercury and Venus, 19th-century diagram. This geocentric (Earth-centred) model shows the orbits of Mercury and Venus as a series of epicycles (loops). Mercury and the Sun are at lower left. Venus is at upper right. The heliocentric system of Copernicus and Kepler replaced these epicycles with elliptical orbits around the Sun. At lower left is an astronomical quadrant. At lower right are the proportional magnitudes of 12 solar system bodies (see C017/8059) and of the Sun as seen from those bodies. The Georgium Sidus is Uranus. This page is from Universal Technological Dictionary (1823) by British author George Crabb (1778-1851)

© MIDDLE TEMPLE LIBRARY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Europe, 16th century nautical map

Nautical map of Europe, 1544 copy of Agnese Atlas. Several copies of this atlas were produced between 1536 and 1564, in Venice, by the Italian mapmaker Battista Agnese. The red lines crossing the map (thumb lines) centre on the compass rose at centre of the map, and are used to show distances between points on the map. As a nautical map, only details of the Mediterranean and Western European coasts are shown. The north and Baltic Sea coasts are not labelled. The Baltic coasts and British Isles are not mapped accurately. This edition of the atlas was dedicated to Hieronymus Ruffault, Abbot of St Vaast, Arras, France. It eventually reached the US Library of Congress in 1943

© LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY