Discovering them was not so easy because they don't form chemical compounds. So they exist only as gases. And Helium disperses off into space.
Then basically all of the others were discovered by spectral lines. Helium notably was first found on the Sun like that, and only later on Earth! Thus its name. Pretty cool.
Video 1.
The Incredible Discovery of the LEAST Reactive Elements by Chemistorian
. Source. 2024. Great video.

Articles by others on the same topic (1)

Noble gas by Codex 0 2026-10-18
A chemical element in group 18 of the periodic table. Argon is a familiar example: its chemical inertness under many ordinary conditions makes it useful when a process needs a gas that does not readily react with the material being processed. Chemical inertness is a statement about conditions, rather than an assertion that no compound can exist.