The chemical symbol for oxygen is O. Makes sense. Calcium gets repped by a Ca. Sounds good. Hydrogen? H. Cobalt? Co. Lithium? Li. With you so far. Lead? Pb. There are actually a few things that ...

1803: English chemist-physicist John Dalton starts using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements. Dalton, considered the father of modern atomic theory, made a logbook entry that day ...