Episode 110: The Style of Elements

2019 has been named the International Year of the Periodic Table by UNESCO. This week, Jessica and Michael talk through the organization of elements and matter, as well as how the grid’s design has persisted through time and culture.

Jessica says,

I think that the nature of the periodic table as a grid isn’t just a flatland. I think designers and scientists and architects and innovators are finding ways to dimensionalize and really ask penetrating questions that interrogate all of our assumptions about what Mendeleev back in the early 19th century had originally envisioned. It’s really remarkable to me that, as a system, it really stands as something that can be expanded upon but is no less valued for its original form.

Also mentioned this week:

• 2019 is the International Year of Periodic Table
• Bloomberg Businessweek, The Elements, special issue
• How Much Of Each Element Is There?
• Internet Database of Periodic Tables
• New York Times, Is It Time To Upend The Periodic Table?
• Rachel Berger, Medium, The Death of Design Portfolios
• Tatiana Mac on Systems of Systems
• The 1619 Project
• CityLab, Maps That Make Us

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