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Overview
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, scientists went beyond Aristotle's four elements (Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water) to catalogue nature's many basic elements. New materials and potions stimulated visions of wealth and healing; soon, new theories of atomic structure and combustion laid the foundation for practical applications that blossomed into the Industrial Revolution.
Synopsis
Modern chemistry emerged from the historical traditions of metalworking (beginning as early as the Bronze Age in 3500 BC); medicine (especially "iatrochemistry", which emerged in the Renaissance); and alchemy (the medieval and mystical forerunner of chemistry).
The 18th century theory of "phlogiston" appeared to explain combustion and respiration as giving off an "inflammable" substance. In 1774 Joseph Priestly discovered "dephlogisticated air" (later called oxygen).
A chemical theory of atoms emerged in the early 19th century, and 31 new elements were discovered between 1790 and 1830. Dmitry Mendeleyev laid out the periodic table in 1869. Chemistry and physics would now be linked in an alliance that has had dramatic consequences for scientific progress and the modern standard of living.