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The feat belongs to Maryam Zukhruf, from Anantnag, in Kashmir: at 8 years old, she recited the 118 elements of the periodic table in 33.71 seconds and placed them in the correct groups at the same time, a record recognized by the India Book of Records.
There are adults with a degree in chemistry who don’t remember half of the periodic table, which is why an 8-year-old girl left so many people amazed. Maryam Zukhruf, from the Kashmir region in India, memorized the 118 elements of the table and recited them by heart in just 33.71 seconds, as timed by the stopwatch. The feat was reported by Parentune, an Indian portal focused on parents and education.
The detail that turns the feat into a record is not just the speed. While she was rapidly naming the 118 elements, the girl organized them into the correct scientific groups, showing that she had not just memorized a list, but understood the logic of the periodic table. It was this combination of memory and reasoning that brought Maryam Zukhruf‘s name to the record book.
The 33.71 seconds that broke the previous record
The previous record for reciting the 118 elements belonged to Sai Aarush Aswinsidharth, from the state of Tamil Nadu, who had accomplished the feat in 43 seconds. The mark was already impressive for any age.
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Maryam not only broke but shattered this time. By clocking 33.71 seconds, the girl from Kashmir shaved almost ten seconds off the old record, a huge difference in a contest where every fraction counts. The India Book of Records, an entity that catalogs extraordinary feats in the country, recorded the mark as the fastest complete recitation of the periodic table.
It wasn’t just reciting: she organized the 118 elements
Here resides what separates the feat from a simple memory trick. Reciting names in sequence is already difficult, but Maryam Zukhruf went further and placed each of the 118 elements in the correct scientific group while speaking. Hydrogen, noble gases, transition metals, each element has its place in the periodic table, and she got the arrangement right while racing against the clock.
Doing both things together is much more demanding than it seems. It requires understanding why the periodic table is arranged as it is, and not just memorizing a loose list in your head. It is this understanding that gives another weight to the record and impressed those who watched the girl from Kashmir in action.
Who is Maryam Zukhruf, the girl from Kashmir
Behind the feat is an ordinary child with an extraordinary talent. Maryam Zukhruf Siddiquah was born on August 7, 2017, and lives in Tail Wani, a village in Anantnag, in Indian-administered Kashmir. At 8 years old, she already has more than one mark in her personal collection of achievements.
This was not her first encounter with records. In June 2025, at 7 years and 9 months old, Maryam Zukhruf was recognized by the India Book of Records for reciting the names of the 28 states and 8 Union territories of India in just 19 seconds. The feat with the periodic table came later, in 2026, and further elevated the name of the girl from Kashmir among the country’s young prodigies.
What is the periodic table and why memorizing it impresses
The periodic table brings together the 118 known elements, from hydrogen to the heaviest synthetic ones, organized by atomic number and similar properties. It is not a random list: the position of each element tells something about how it behaves.
Therefore, memorizing it entirely would already be remarkable, but mastering the structure is another level. Getting right which group each of the 118 elements belongs to shows an understanding of the logic that the chemist Dmitri Mendeleev set up in the 19th century. When an 8-year-old child does this in 33.71 seconds and also sets a record, it becomes clear why the story of Maryam Zukhruf went viral.
How does a child memorize the entire periodic table?
This is the question every parent asks when they read the news. There’s no magic or inexplicable gift: achievements like this usually come from a lot of repetition, associations, and memory games, combined with a genuine interest from the child in the subject. Turning the periodic table into something fun helps the brain retain the sequence of the 118 elements.
Support from home plays a significant role in this type of achievement. Children who break records usually have families that encourage studying as play, without excessive pressure. In the case of the girl from Kashmir, the result of this encouragement was the chance to see Maryam Zukhruf enter the record book at just 8 years old.
A talent that shows what curiosity can achieve
In the end, the story is less about the stopwatch and more about what it inspires. An 8-year-old child from Kashmir proved that, with curiosity and training, it’s possible to master the entire periodic table, the 118 elements and their groups, in a record that many adults would find impossible. Maryam Zukhruf became, all at once, an example that learning can be a game taken seriously.
And you, do you remember any element from the periodic table from chemistry classes, or would you be lost by the third name? Share in the comments how far you would get in this challenge that Maryam conquered in just over half a minute.
