The English analytical chemist John Alexander Reina Newlands, b. Nov. 26, 1837, d. July 29, 1898, was one of the precursors of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev in formulating the concept of periodicity in the properties of the chemical elements. In his so-called Law of Octaves, formulated in 1864-65 but not well received at that time, Newlands arranged the 62 known elements in order of increasing atomic weights and noted that, after each interval of eight elements, similar physical and chemical properties reappeared, thus enabling him to divide the elements into families and periods. Newlands was chief chemist of a sugar refinery from 1868 to 1886.
George B. Kauffman
Bibliography: Puddephatt, R. J., and Monaghan, P. K., The Periodic Table of Elements, 2d ed. (1986).
Last modified on: Monday, October 20, 1997.