2019 – a special year?
In retrospect, every reader will surely be able to answer this question in his own way. But 2019 has been a special year for yet another reason. In 1869, the Russian chemist Dimitri Mendelejew and his German colleague Lothar Meyer discovered the periodicity in the properties of chemical elements and then arranged the elements in a system, so that elements with similar properties and number of protons in the atomic nucleus have a very specific place in this arrangement. This is how the Periodic Table of Elements emerged – one of the very basic systematics in chemistry – which, at a glance, provides information on the properties of the elements and their possible reactions.
2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the periodic table. On the occasion of the anniversary, the United Nations General Assembly and the UNESCO proclaimed 2019 the “International Year of the Periodic Table”.
Also, the expert contribution (from page 47) “In the Melt”, which deals with the application of rare metals by means of thermochemical treatment, makes use of the different chemical properties of compounds that ultimately go back to the structure of the atoms.
Enjoy reading!
Petra Strunk↓
Editor-in-chief of AT MINERAL PROCESSING
