Background
Dmitri Mendeleev was born on February 8, 1834, in the village of Verkhnie Aremzyani, near Tobolsk in Siberia. He was the seventeenth and last child of Ivan Pavlovich and Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleev.
Sculpture in honor of Mendeleev and the periodic table, located in Bratislava, Slovakia.
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Dmitri Mendeleev was born on February 8, 1834, in the village of Verkhnie Aremzyani, near Tobolsk in Siberia. He was the seventeenth and last child of Ivan Pavlovich and Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleev.
At the age of 7 Dmitrii entered the gymnasium in Tobolsk and completed his studies in 1849. He displayed brilliant intellectual ability, a sharp memory, and a fascination for mathematics, physics, and geography. The following year he enrolled in the division of mathematical and natural sciences of the Main Pedagogical Institute of St. Petersburg, his father's alma mater.
The universities of Kazan and St. Petersburg were the principal centers of chemical activities in Russia during the first half of the 19th century. Mendeleev worked under Aleksandr A. Voskresenskii, whom the Russians call the grandfather of Russian chemistry. Mendeleev's first scientific paper was "The Analysis of Finnish Allanite and Pyroxene, " and his diploma thesis was On Isomorphism in Connection with Other Relations between Crystalline Forms and Chemical Compositions (published in 1856 in Gorny zhurnal). His studies of the phenomenon of isomorphism led him to observe the similarity of the crystalline structures of related elements, which aided him in constructing the periodic table. When he graduated in 1855, he won the gold medal for being first in his class. He received his doctorate in chemistry in 1865.
Though the nation was going through the tough war times Mendeleev worked on what he did best for him and his country. He carried on numerous different exercises outside scholarly research and instructing. After a brief stay at the Sorbonne, Mendeleev journeyed to Heidelberg University, where he organized his own laboratory. He concentrated on the problem of molecular cohesion as displayed in the phenomena of capillarity and surface tension. The results of his experiments were published in three papers: "The Capillary Properties of Liquids," "The Expansion of Liquids," and "The Temperature of the Absolute Boiling Points of the Same Liquids." The significant conclusion reached by Mendeleev was that the molecular cohesion of a liquid in a capillary tube disappears at a specific temperature and that no gas can be liquefied above its unique "absolute temperature," commonly designated as the "critical temperature." During his stay in Heidelberg he designed the Mendeleev pyknometer for determining the specific gravity of liquids.
To acquire cash he began composing articles on prominent science and innovation for diaries and reference books as ahead of schedule as 1859. In 1860 Mendeleev and several other Russian chemists participated in the work of the First International Congress of Chemistry at Karlsruhe. Its purpose was, according to Mendeleev's letter dated September 7, 1860, "to clarify and, if possible, agree on the basic differences which exist between the followers of different chemical schools."
Another interest that of building up the agrarian and modern assets of Russia started to possess Mendeleyev in the 1860s and developed to wind up one of his real distractions. He composed undertakings in the Donets Basin to build up a coal industry, and he made a trip to both Baku in Azerbaijan and to Pennsylvania in the United States keeping in mind the end goal to take in more about the petroleum business. He developed a theory that petroleum originated from the action of water on metallic carbides inside the earth. On the whole, he may have given more opportunity to inquiries of the national economy than to unadulterated science.
In 1861 Mendeleev resumed teaching chemistry at the University of St. Petersburg, the College of Engineering, and the Transport Institute. That year he wrote Organic Chemistry, Russia's first university manual on the subject. Mendeleev accepted in 1864 the chair of technology (industrial chemistry) at the Technological Institute of St. Petersburg; filled in 1867 the chair of inorganic chemistry at the University of St. Petersburg, which he retained for the next 23 years; and helped found in 1868 the Russian Chemical Society.
It is difficult to determine precisely when Mendeleev first hit upon the periodic table. The problem of inaccurate atomic weights was solved by Stanislao Cannizzaro. Attempts to organize the chemical elements by increasing atomic weights had already been made by Alexandre Émile Béguyer de Chancourtois and by John Alexander Reina Newlands. It is known that Mendeleev also was impressed with certain regularities of the chemical properties of elements when preparing, in 1868, his highly successful text Principles of Chemistry. On March 18, 1869, Mendeleev's paper "An Outline of the System of the Elements, Based on Their Atomic Weights and Chemical Similarities, " which contained the periodic table, was presented at the Russian Chemical Society and was subsequently published in Russian and German. In his table Mendeleev left six gaps for the yet-undiscovered elements having the atomic weights of 8, 22, 45, 68, 70, and 180.
He was able to derive their valences and atomic weights and the formulas of compounds they are likely to form. Mendeleev's table hardly attracted attention until his predictions were fulfilled by the discoveries of gallium (1874), scandium (1879), and germanium (1885). The major drawbacks of his table were that it had difficulty in accommodating the rare-earth group and that no provision was made for the chemically inert elements, helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon. In 1869, he published his major work "The Relation between the Properties and Atomic Weights of Elements." He organized the 65 known elements into the periodic table. His enthusiasm for spreading exploratory and innovative information was such that he proceeded with famous science composing until the end of his profession, participating in the task of the Brockhaus Enzyklopädie and dispatching a progression of productions entitled «Biblioteka promyshlennykh znany» in the 1890s.
In 1886 Mendeleev turned his attention to agricultural productivity, earning him the reputation of being the founder of Russian agrochemistry. While looking into the properties of rarefied gases under varying pressures, Mendeleev designed a differential barometer that could determine precisely the height above sea level. He became fascinated with the problem of studying the upper strata of the atmosphere, and he even went so far as to plan a hermetically sealed gondola that could carry a human observer or automatic recording equipment. On August 7, 1887, Mendeleev had the opportunity to make an ascent in a government balloon for the purpose of observing a solar eclipse. Inasmuch as the balloon lacked the power to lift Mendeleev and his experienced balloonist, Mendeleev bodily ejected the balloonist and carried out a solo flight, rising to an altitude of 11, 000 feet and landing two hours later after covering 150 miles. Just before his death, Mendeleev was contemplating a journey to the North Pole by balloon. At the request of the Ministry of State Property, Mendeleev examined in 1888 the possibilities of organizing a coal-mining industry in the Donets Basin (Donbas). And in 1899, despite age and infirmity, he traveled to the Urals to investigate the stagnation of the iron industry. In his The Urals Iron Industry in 1899 he concluded the problem lay with the monopolistic practices of the owners. By 1889 Mendeleev had perfected his periodic table of elements. He presented his representation in London, and it is this model that is still used today.
In 1890, he retired from his university position. The same year, he took a position as a government consultant. He was strongly interested in developing Russia’s industrial and agricultural resources. He was particularly interested in petroleum. His research helped to found Russia’s first oil refinery. In 1893, he became director of the Central Board of Weights and Measures in Russia. He published several articles in the "Brockhaus Encyclopedia" and reviewed numerous reprints of his “Principles of Chemistry.”
On February 2, 1907, Dmitri Mendeleev died at the age of 72 in Saint Petersburg from influenza.
The Russian chemist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev is best known for the formulation of the periodic law of the chemical elements. His distributed works incorporate 400 books and articles, and various unpublished original copies are kept right up 'til the present time in the Dmitry Mendeleev Museum and Archives at St. Petersburg State University. He wrote "Organic Chemistry", a 500 page textbook, that went on to win the Demidov Prize in 1862 and push Mendeleev to fame in the scientific community.
In 1867, he was honored with the Chair of General Chemistry at the University of Saint Petersburg. In 1869, Mendeleev came out another major book, "The Principles of Chemistry". The book became so popular that it was translated to French, German, and English. Mendeleev was widely honored by scientific organizations all over Europe, including (in 1882) the Davy Medal from the Royal Society of London, which later also awarded him the Copley Medal in 1905.
A number of places and objects are associated with the name and achievements of the scientist. In Saint Petersburg, his name was given to the National Metrology Institute dealing with establishing and supporting national and worldwide standards for precise measurements. Next to it there is a monument to him that consists of his sitting statue and a depiction of his periodic table on the wall of the establishment.
In the Twelve Collegia building, now being the centre of Saint Petersburg State University and in Mendeleev's time - Head Pedagogical Institute - there is Dmitry Mendeleev's Memorial Museum Apartment with his archives. The street in front of these is named after him as Mendeleevskaya liniya (Mendeleev Line).
In Moscow, there is the D. Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology of Russia.
In his honour was also named mendelevium, which is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Md (formerly Mv) and the atomic number 101. It is a metallic radioactive transuranic element in the actinide series, usually synthesized by bombarding einsteinium with alpha particles.
The Russian Academy of Sciences has occasionally awarded a Mendeleev Golden Medal since 1965.
The crater Mendeleev on the Moon, as well as element number 101, the radioactive mendelevium, are named after him.
Mendeleev was raised as an Orthodox Christian, his mother encouraging him to "patiently search divine and scientific truth." His son would later inform that he departed from the Church and embraced a form of "romanticized deism."
Mendeleev had confidence in the existence of the law of periodicity of elements. He devoted considerable effort to predict the chemical and physical properties of three elements vacant in the table. Like his deep-rooted responsibility to the mechanical improvement of Russia, Mendeleyev's philosophical perspectives may have been established in his family foundation in Siberia. In any case, it appears he built up his very own mysticism through his everyday experience. In the 1870s the visit of an acclaimed medium to St. Petersburg attracted him to distribute various brutal reactions of "the witnesses of mysticism."
Quotations:
“The most all penetrating spirit before which will open the possibility of tilting not tables, but planets, is the spirit of free human inquiry. Believe only in that.”
“Work, look for peace and calm in work: you will find it nowhere else.”
“The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weights, exhibit an apparent periodicity of properties.”
“No law of nature, however general, has been established all at once; its recognition has always been preceded by many presentiments.”
“We must expect the discovery of many as yet unknown elements-for example, elements analogous to aluminum and silicon- whose atomic weight would be between 65 and 75.”
“I saw in a dream a table where all the elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper.”
“The establishment of a law, moreover, does not take place when the first thought of it takes form, or even when its significance is recognised, but only when it has been confirmed by the results of the experiment.”
“When the elements are arranged in vertical columns according to increasing atomic weight, so that the horizontal lines contain analogous elements again according to increasing atomic weight, an arrangement results from which several general conclusions may be drawn.”
“The elements which are the most widely diffused have small atomic weights.”
In expressing displeasure with the Russian Academy of Sciences' rejection of Mendeleev and recognizing his achievements, five Russian universities elected Mendeleev as an honorary member, Cambridge and Oxford designated him an honored scholar, and numerous academies and societies elected him a member. Few Russians since have been able to match Mendeleev's worldwide recognition. Dmitri Mendeleev was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1892.
In 1905, Mendeleev was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Dmitri Mendeleev's scientific interests and contacts were very wide, he repeatedly traveled, made many private trips and travels. He climbed to the highest clouds and went down into the mines, visited hundreds of factories, universities, institutes and scientific societies. He also met, polemised, cooperated and just talked, shared his thoughts with hundreds of scientists, artists, peasants, entrepreneurs, workers and craftsmen, writers, statesmen, and politicians. He made a lot of photos, bought a lot of books and reproductions. The library, which has been preserved almost entirely, includes about 20,000 publications, and a partially preserved huge archive and a collection of fine and reproductive materials contain a large number of heterogeneous printing units, diaries, workbooks, notebooks, manuscripts and extensive correspondence with Russian and foreign scientists, public figures and other correspondents.
Physical Characteristics: During his peak and final years he was always seen with lengthy while hair and beard. He was always a well dressed man who would respect people whom he met and spoke to.
Quotes from others about the person
“Dmitri Mendeleev was a chemist of genius, first-class physicist, a fruitful researcher in the fields of hydrodynamics, meteorology, geology, certain branches of chemical technology and other disciplines adjacent to chemistry and physics, a thorough expert of chemical industry and industry in general, and an original thinker in the field of economy.” - Lev Aleksandrovich Chugaev, 1873 to 1922
“Dmitri Mendeleev was probably the greatest scientist produced by Russia. ...the periodic table was developed by Mendeleev, as well as five other scientists, over a period of about 10 years, after the Italian chemist Cannizzaro had published a consistent set of atomic weights in 1860. It appears that Mendeleev was unaware of the work of several of his co-discoverers, however. ...What is not well known is that about half of the elements that Mendeleev predicted were never found.” - Eric R. Scerri
“Dmitri was writing a textbook and wanted to organize the elements properly. So he wrote each element onto its own card to help him sort them out. Dimitri enjoyed playing cards, especially patience, and one evening he dosed off while working. He had a dream in which each of the cards lined up in rows, just like a game of patience. When he woke, he realized that he should put the elements in order of atomic mass.” - David Sang
“In writing a textbook of general chemistry, Mendeleev devoted separate chapters to families of elements with similar properties, including the alkali metals, the alkaline earth metals, and the halogens. Reflecting on the properties of these and other elements, he proposed in 1869 a primitive version of today's periodic table. Indeed, he predicted detailed properties for three such elements (scandium, gallium, and germanium). By 1886 all of these elements had been discovered and found to have properties very similar to those he had predicted.” - William Masterton
On April 4, 1862, Dmitri Mendeleev became engaged to Feozva Nikitichna Leshcheva, and they married on April 27, 1862, at Nikolaev Engineering Institute's church in Saint Petersburg. The marriage lasted for nearly 20 years before the couple divorced in 1882. He had two children from this marriage: son Vladimir and daughter Olga. In 1882 Mendeleev married Anna Ivanova Popova and this union resulted in four children.
Lyubov Dmitrievna Blok (Mendeleeva) became the wife of the famous Russian poet Alexander Blok.
Vasily Dmitrievich Mendeleev was a Russian engineer and inventor.
