The International year of the Periodic Table was launched today (Tuesday 29 January 2019) in Paris — and the University of Nottingham has revealed some exciting plans to celebrate this scientific milestone.

The University of Nottingham is creating a Nottingham version of the Periodic Table, featuring recognisable landmarks, sayings, and people from the city. The completed Nottingham Periodic Table will be unveiled at this year’s Wonder event on 15 June 2019.

As previously announced, Wonder 2019 will also be themed to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table — a call for activity proposals is open until Friday 15 February.

Another highlight of the celebrations will be a guest lecture on Wednesday 13 March 2019 by Russian nuclear physicist Yuri Oganessian – the only living person to have an element named after him (Oganesson – No 118). Further details of this lecture will be announced soon.

Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the creation of the periodic table was an idea sparked by Sir Martyn Poliakoff from the School of Chemistry, who says: “Dmitrii Mendeleev’s first publication of his Periodic Table was in 1869 and, a couple of years ago I casually suggested that the 150th anniversary might be a good opportunity for a global celebration of chemistry. The idea caught people’s imagination and a bottom-up push was enough to ignite widespread enthusiasm. With much effort from a number of people the idea became a reality.

“Approval by the UN and UNESCO was necessary to mobilize government support for national chemical societies across the globe. Now, with this support, chemists at all levels, of all nationalities, and of all ages are seizing the opportunity to put on a bewildering range of events to celebrate our most iconic scientific tool.”

Sir Martyn is a special guest at the launch ceremony of the International Year of the Periodic Table at UNESCO in Paris where he will give the audience a peek inside his world with a visual tour of his office where the Periodic Table is on display in many forms.

To help mark the celebrations, Sir Martyn and the Periodic Videos team will also be making some special videos for the Periodic Table of Videos.

Nottingham Periodic Table – have your say!

We’re asking people to get involved and help us create the Nottingham Periodic Table, by providing suggestions of Nottingham-related replacements for the chemical elements. (For example Fr – Friar Tuck, Pa – Paul Smith, Eu – ‘Ey Up Mi Duck’.)

Want to have your idea featured? Send us your suggestions by completing this form: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/chemistry/nottingham-periodic-table.aspx.