Never having seen such a tabulation, I wondered if it might prove useful in teaching. The question has a sports-related flavor that will appeal to many students. Personally, I picked England or Germany for #1. The actual result is surprising. The ranking considering only up to atomic number 103 is as follows:

Note: Where two or more independent discoveries have been made, each country is credited. In the "others" category Austria and Denmark each has two discoveries. The remaining countries, with one each, are Finland, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Spain. The high place for the USA is primarily due to the work done at Berkeley and Los Alamos on the transuranics. Without these discoveries, the US would have tied with Switzerland at three elements.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this tabulation is that Swedish chemists have discovered the most elements. Four chemists alone account for twelve of the 20 discoveries: Baron Jöns Jakob Berzelius (1779-1848) is credited with four elements. His pupil, friend, and assistant, Carl Gustav Mosander (1797-1858) discovered three. P. T. Cleve also found three elements and Karl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786) discovered two.

Biographical research on the Swedish chemists is a suitable assignment at the introductory level. Reasons for the predominance of Swedish chemists presents a challenging student research topic in the history of chemistry. Another interesting question at the introductory level is, transuranics aside, who discovered the most elements? At the more advanced level the question becomes, why?

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