Hydrogen over helium: A philosophical position

Hydrogen is troublesome in any periodic table classification. This being so it may as well be placed in a position that confers desirable attributes to the arrangement of the elements, while notionally recognising its lineage to the group 1 alkali metals and the group 17 halogens. Since the noble gases bridge the halogens and the alkali metals, and hydrogen encompasses the transition from the alkali metals to the halogens, there is more to the idea of hydrogen over helium.

Hydrogen…seems to claim an exceptional position (Meyer 1870, p. 357)

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes (Proust 1927, p. 559)