First Periodic Table

It was a 19th century geologist who first recognized periodicity in the physical properties of the elements. Alexandre Beguyer de Chancourtois (1820-1886), professor of geology at the School of Mines in Paris, published in 1862 a list of all the known elements. The list was constructed as a helical graph wrapped around a cylinder--elements with similar properties occupied positions on the same vertical line of cylinder (the list also included some ions and compounds).   Using geological terms and published without the diagram, de Chancourtois ideas were completely ignored until the work of Mendeleev.