Major Geek Alert!

I just found out about the coolest Periodic Table of the Elements ever:

Theodore Gray is one of the founders of Wolfram Research, the company behind Mathematica. In his spare time he has a passion for creating unusual and quite beautiful representations of the periodic table of the elements.

Every element has a pretty side, and in this poster I have tried to give each one a chance to show off what makes it unique and beautiful.

For example the noble gases are represented by discharge tubes that display their characteristic colors in an electric arc. Iodine was photographed while being heated from below to bring out the distinctive and lovely purple vapor it gives off at elevated temperatures. Niobium is represented by an ultra-high purity crystal ribbon, an attractive form that few people have ever seen. Silicon, in contrast, is represented by a relatively low-purity sample, but one that is just plain good-looking.

I was always fascinated by the Periodic Table. I spent quite a bit of time in Chemistry classes poring over the various elements on the big wall chart, especially when the lecture was rather boring that day. I always found it interesting to see photographs of the elements in their pure form, but I didn't come across them too often. Besides, the textbooks aren't too good at depicting elements that are gaseous, or that only exist in laboratories for a fraction of a second.

Of course, I like to read the dictionary too.

But hey, even if you don't personally find this too interesting, it would be nice to order one for your child's science classroom, or for a geeky friend. It would make a sweet gift for young budding geeks. Theodore offers several different sizes and some are quite cheap. I'm going to put a big one in Julian's room. Um, mostly for me. ;-)