As early as 1913, Bohr's research on electronic structure led physicists such as Johannes Rydberg to extrapolate the properties of undiscovered elements heavier than uranium. Many agreed that the next noble gas after radon would most likely have the atomic number 118, from which it followed that the transition series in the seventh period should resemble those in the sixth. Although it was thought that these transition series would include a series analogous to the rare-earth elements, characterized by filling of the 5f shell, it was unknown where this series began. Predictions ranged from atomic number 90 (thorium) to 99, many of which proposed a beginning beyond the known elements (at or beyond atomic number 93). The elements from actinium to uranium were instead believed to form part of a fourth series of transition metals because of their high oxidation states ; accordingly, they were placed in groups 3 through 6.