Dalton was the first scientist to use symbols to represent elements in a short way. Dalton's symbol for an element represented the 'element' as well as 'one atom' of that element. Some of the symbols of element given by Dalton are shown below:

Dalton, considered the father of modern atomic theory, made a logbook entry that day titled, "Observations on the Ultimate Particles of Bodies and their Combinations." It was the first use of symbols to represent the elements of modern chemistry.

He soon had a table of 21 elements arranged by atomic mass, which he presented in a scientific paper the following month. Eventually, he had 36 different symbols. In his 1805 work, "A New System of Chemical Philosophy," Dalton propounded the tenets of his atomic theory:

• The chemical elements are made of atoms.
• The atoms of an element are identical in mass.
• Atoms of different elements have different masses.
• Atoms combine only in small, whole–number ratios like 1:1, 1:2, 2:3, etc.
• Atoms can not be created or destroyed.

Dalton's symbols included circles containing distinct symbols (a dot for hydrogen, a cross for sulfur), or circles containing letters (C for copper, L for lead). He used them singly to represent elements and in combination to show compounds. However, these are not the ones we use today.