This article is from the Chemistry FAQ, by Bruce Hamilton B.Hamilton@irl.cri.nz with numerous contributions by others.
The Rubber Handbook has a monograph on each element, including a brief
discussion of the discovery. "Chemistry of the Elements" by Greenwood and
Earnshaw [48], and "The Elements" by Emsley [49], also provide good
discussions, and Gmelin provides a fairly comprehensive discussion of
discovery of each element. In each of the above, the discovery of each
element is taken in isolation. The best general overview that provides a
cohesive framework explaining the overall progression of discoveries, is
"Discovery of the Elements" by Weeks [50], and it should be available in most
libraries. For the more recent elements, there usually are brief reports and
discussions in C&EN and the Journal of Chemical Education.
 
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