Law of octaves was propounded by

The correct answer is John Newlands.

Key Points

• John Newlands was an English chemist who first proposed the law of octaves in 1864.
• The law of octaves states that elements, when arranged by increasing atomic mass, exhibit similar properties at every eighth element.
• Newlands’ law was an early attempt to classify the elements in a systematic way before the development of the modern periodic table.
• His work was initially criticized, but it paved the way for the later development of the periodic table by Dmitri Mendeleev.

Additional Information

• Johann Dobereiner
  • German chemist known for his work on the classification of elements.
  • Introduced the concept of triads, groups of three elements with similar properties, in 1829.
  • Triads were an early attempt to show a relationship between atomic weights and properties of elements.
• Dmitri Mendeleev
  • Russian chemist who created the first widely accepted periodic table in 1869.
  • Arranged elements by increasing atomic weight and grouped elements with similar properties.
  • Predicted the existence and properties of undiscovered elements, which were later found.
• Henry Moseley
  • British physicist who established the concept of atomic number in 1913.
  • Showed that the periodic table should be arranged by atomic number, not atomic weight.
  • His work led to the modern definition of the periodic table.