Number of elements keeps growing

The period since 1923 has been one of the most productive for the discovery of new elements. Bars represent the number of elements discovered during consecutive 15-year periods since the systematic search for chemicals began in the mid-18th century. Twenty-six elements have been added in the past 75 years-a rate of about one every three years. The most recent, the as-yet-unnamed element 112, was discovered in 1996.