Celebrating 150 Years of the Periodic Table

Did you know the periodic table of chemical elements turned 150 years old in 2019? To celebrate the chart's 150th anniversary, the College of Letters and Science asked our experts to share their favorite element. 

Deborah Harkness

Historian brings authenticity to bestsellers about witches and vampires.

Deborah Harkness is the author of the best-selling All Souls Trilogy, about scholar and reluctant witch Diana Bishop, whose discovery of an enchanted manuscript sets loose an underworld of witches, vampires, and daemons. Among them is the vampire and scientist Matthew Clairmont, who has long been searching for the same long-lost manuscript.

Xiaodong Li Wins NSF Career Award

Xiaodong Li, assistant professor of statistics in the UC Davis College of Letters and Science, has received a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. The NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program supports junior faculty who perform outstanding research, are excellent educators, and integrate outreach in their work.

William Jackson Honored for Research and Mentoring

In recognition of his accomplishments in analyzing the chemistry of comets and advancing scientists of color, William M. Jackson, Jr., distinguished professor emeritus of chemistry in the UC Davis College of Letters and Science, will receive the 2019 Arthur B.C. Walker II Award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP).