What if the periodic table had gone differently?

Mendeleev arranges the elements so their properties repeat, and predicts the gaps.

If it had gone differently: Chemistry stays a catalogue of unrelated substances; the logic of the atom is worked out much later.

1. 1907The first synthetic plastic, Manufacturing stays bound to wood, metal, glass and rubber; cheap moulded everything never arrives.
2. 1909The Haber–Bosch process, Farm yields hit a hard ceiling set by manure and guano; the planet feeds maybe half as many people.