_Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev _
By: XTCgoddess
Dmitri Mendeleev was one of the most famous modern-day scientists of all time
who contributed greatly to the worlds fields of science, technology, and
politics. He helped modernize the world and set it farther ahead into the
future. Mendeleev also made studying chemistry easier, by creating a table
with the elements and the atomic weights of them put in order by their
properties. Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev was born in Tobolsk, Siberia, on
February 7, 1834. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy was the son of Maria
Dmitrievna Korniliev and Ivan Pavlovitch Mendeleev and the youngest of 14
children. Dmitris father, Ivan died when Dmitri was still very young and
Dmitris mother, Maria was left to support her large family. Maria needed
money to support all her children, so she took over managing her familys
glass factory in Aremziansk. The family had to pack up and move thereMaria
favored Dmitri because he was the youngest child and started saving money to
put him through college when he had still been quite young. As a child, Dmitri
spent many hours in his mothers factory talking to the workers. The chemist
there taught him about the concepts behind glass making and the glass blower
taught him about the art of glass making. Another large influence in Dmitris
life had been his sister, Olgas, husband, Bessargin. Bessargin had been
banished to Siberia because of his political beliefs as a Russian Decembrist,
(Decembrists, or Dekabrists as they were known in Russia, were a group of
literary men who led a revolution in Russia in 1825.), so he spent most of his
time teaching Dmitri the science of the day. From these people, Dmitri grew up
with three key thoughts: Everything in the world is science, from Bessargin.
Everything in the world is art, from Timofei the glass blower. Everything
in the world is love, from Maria his mother. (Dictionary of Scientific
Biography. p. 291.) As Dmitri grew older, it became apparent to everyone
that Dmitri understood complex topics better than others did. When Dmitri
turned 14 and entered school in Tobolsk, a second major family tragedy
occurred-his mothers glass factory burned down to the ground. The family had
no money to rebuild the factory, except for the money that Dmitris mother had
saved for him to attend a university. Maria wasnt about to give up her dreams
that she had for her son and she knew that Dmitris only hope to go on to
school was to win a scholarship. Maria constantly pushed Dmitri to improve his
grades and prepare for his entrance exams At a very young age, Dmitri had
already known that he wanted to study science and decided to pay very little
attention in classes such as Latin and history. He believed that these topics
were a waste of time and he wouldnt need him in his career as a scientist.
After much pleading from his mother and Bessargin, Dmitri passed his exams and
prepared to enter the university In 1849, Maria packed up her life and
family and moved to Moscow, because there was nothing left for them in
Aremziansk anymore. They settled in a city with a considerable amount of
political unrest, which meant that the universities there were very reluctant
to accept anyone from outside of Moscow. Dmitri was rejected. Maria still had
hope for him, so she then took her family and moved to St. Petersburg St.
Petersburg was in the same state as Moscow, but the family found an old friend
of Dmitris father working at the Pedagogical Institute, his fathers old
school. After a little persuasion, Dmitri was allowed to take the exams and
passed with grades that landed him a full scholarship. Dmitri entered the
universitys science teacher training program in the fall of 1850 Maria died
very soon after Dmitri was accepted to the university and so did his sister,
Elizabeth. Both died due to tuberculosis. Dmitri was left alone to face his
work at the university and he immersed himself in it. His studies progressed
rapidly for three years, until he became ill and was bedridden for one year.
During this year, Dmitri continued his studies by having professors and fellow
students visit him and give him assignments, etc. Dmitri managed to graduate
on time and was awarded the medal of excellence for being the first in his
class Dmitris illness did not improve and the doctors told him that he
would have a maximum of two years left to live if he moved to a warmer
climate. Dmitri had many goals for his future, so trying to extend his life as
long as possible, he moved to Simferopol in the Crimean Peninsula near the
Black Sea in 1855. At 21 years of age, Dmitri became the chief science master
at the local school. This move to the south highly improved his condition and
began regaining health to the point where doctors could no longer find any
signs of disease in his body In 1856, Dmitri returned to St. Petersburg to
defend his masters thesis: Research and Theories on Expansion of Substances
Due to Heat. After this, Dmitri focused his career on teaching and research.
Dmitri was devoted to two things: First, his work and his students. Second,
his country and his fellow men. His first love led him to write many books and
to organize the periodic table, while the other gave rise to the studies of
chemical technology and the organization of Russias industries, agriculture,
transport, meteorology, and metrology. (Makers of Chemistry. p. 267.) In
1859, the Minister of Public Instruction assigned him to travel to study and
develop scientific and technological innovations. Between 1859 and 1861,
Dmitri studied the densities of gases with Regnault in Paris and then he
studied the workings of the spectroscope with Kirchoff in Heidelberg. Later,
Dmitri went on to study capillarity and surface tension. This led to his
theory of an absolute boiling point, which we know now as critical
temperature. While studying in Heidelberg, Dmitri made an acquaintance with
A.P. Borodin, a chemist who achieved greater fame as a composer. In 1860, at
the Chemical Congress in Karlsruhe, Dmitri got the opportunity to hear
Cannizzaro discuss his work on atomic weights. All these people had great
influence on Dmitris work, which he would pursue for the rest of his life.
After traveling around Europe, Dmitri returned to Russia and settled down to
devote his life to teaching and research in St. Petersburg. In 1863, he was
made Professor of Chemistry at the Technological Institute and, in 1866, he
became Professor of Chemistry at the University and was also made Doctor of
Science there for his lectures on The Combinations of Water and Alcohol.
Dmitris research findings were expansive and very beneficial to the Russian
people. Much of his lab work was done outside the classroom, on his own time
and he truly enjoyed educating people and himself Dmitri not only taught in
classrooms, but he also gave lectures to whoever would listen on his journeys.
When travelling by train, Dmitri would sit with the peasants (also known as
the mouzhiks) and share his findings about agriculture over a cup of tea.
Peasants and university students alike adored him and gathered around and
filled lecture halls to hear him talk about chemistry Throughout Dmitris
whole life, he believed that science was always the most important subject. In
the fragile state of Russia during that time, though, science also touched
upon the subjects of politics and social inequality, in which Dmitri openly
expressed his views on these topics. The thoughts that he came up with over
these topics led Dmitri to discover the periodic law, but it also led to his
resignation from the University on August 17, 1890. Up until this point,
Dmitri continuously witnessed his country be repressed and suffer and he
decided to use his newfound prestige and power to speak out against
repression. To resign from the university, Dmitri had to carry a student
petition to the Minister of Education. The Minister refused to allow Dmitri to
leave because he believed that he would be better at teaching than involving
himself with students and politics. Dmitri was finally allowed to resign after
delivering his final lecture at the University of St. Petersburg, where police
broke it up because they feared that it might lead the students in an
uprising Dmitris personal life was very turbulent as well. In 1863, due to
his sister, Olga, greatly influencing him, Dmitri married Feozva Nikitchna
Lascheva. Together they had two children, a boy named, Volodya, and a girl
named, Olga. Dmitri had never really loved Feozva and spent little time with
her. Theres a story that suggests that at one point in their marriage, Feozva
asked Dmitri if he was married to her or to his science. In return, he
responded that he was married to both, unless that was considered bigamy, in
which case, he was married to science. In January 1882, Dmitri divorced Feozva
so that he could marry his nieces best friend, Anna Ivanova Popova. The
Orthodox Church considered Dmitri a bigamist, but he had become so famous in
Russia that the Czar said, Mendeleev has two wives, yes, but I have only one
Mendeleev. (Czar Alexander II, Discovery of the Elements, The. p. 111). Anna
was much younger than Dmitri was but they loved each other very much and were
together until death. They had four children in total together, Liubov, Ivan,
and twins, Vassili and Maria. Anna also influenced Dmitris views on art
considerably and he was elected to the Academy of Arts because he was thought
to have insightful criticism and for his painting As Dmitri grew older, he
cared less and less about his personal appearance. In his later years, Dmitri
would only cut his hair and beard once a year. He wouldnt even cut it at the
Czars request. It was apparent that Dmitris work was his first and only
priority Dmitri also believed that education was of the utmost importance,
so he published many books. In 1854, he published his first book, Chemical
Analysis of a Sample from Finland. His published his last books in 1906, A
Project for a School for Teachers and Toward Knowledge of Russia. The first
edition of Principles of Chemistry was printed in 1868 and in 1861, at 27
years old, he published his most famous book, Organic Chemistry. This book won
him the Domidov Prize and put him about of other Russian chemists. Both these
books were used as classroom texts. All in all, all of Dmitris transcripts
that involved his research findings and beliefs totaled well over 250 ideas.
Other than working on general chemical concepts, Dmitri also spent much of
his time trying to improve Russia technological advances. Many of his
research findings dealt with agricultural chemistry, oil refining, and mineral
recovery. Dmitri was also one of the founding members of the Russian Chemical
Society in 1868 and he helped open the lines of communication between
scientists in Europe and the United States Dmitri also did studies on the
properties and behaviors of gases at high and low pressures, which led to him
developing a very accurate barometer and further studying in meteorology.
Dmitri was also interested in balloons. His greatest and most well known
accomplishment was the stating of the Periodic Law and the development of the
Periodic Table. From the beginning of his career in science, Dmitri believed
that there was some sort of order to the elements and spent more than thirteen
years of his life collecting data and assembling the concept. He wanted to do
this in order to clear up some of the confusion about the elements for his
students. Dmitri was considered one of the first modern-day scientists because
he did not use only his own work and discoveries, but communicated with other
scientists around the world to receive the data that they had collected. He
then used all the data that he had and gathered to arrange the elements
according to their properties. He believed that: No law of nature, however
general, has been established all at once; its recognition has always been
preceded by many presentiments. The establishment of a low, moreover, does not
take place when the first thought of it takes form, or even when its
significance is recognized, but only when it has been confirmed by the results
of the experiment. The man of science must consider these results as the only
proof of the correctness of his conjectures and opinions. (Mendeleev, Eminent
Chemists of Our Time. p. 28.) In 1866, Newlands published a book filled with
the relationships of the elements called, Law of Octaves. Dmitris ideas were
similar to Newlands, but Dmitri had more collected data and went father along
in his research than Newlands had done. By 1869, Dmitri had assembled detailed
descriptions of more than 60 elements and on March 6, 1869, a formal
presentation was made to the Russian Chemical Society called, The Dependence
Between the Properties and the Atomic Weights of the Elements. Dmitri could
not deliver this presentation due to an illness and his colleague Professor
Menshutken had to do it for him. There were eight key points to the
presentation: 1.The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weights,
exhibit an apparent periodicity of properties. 2. Elements which are similar
as regards their chemical properties have atomic weights which are either of
nearly the same value (e.g. Pt, Ir, Os) or which increase regularly (e.g.
K, Ru, Cs). 3. The arrangement of the elements, or of groups of elements in
the order of their atomic weights, corresponds to their so-called valences, as
well as, to some extent, to their distinctive chemical properties; as is
apparent among other series in that of Li, Be, Ba, C, N, O, and Sn. 4. The
elements which are the most widely diffused have small atomic weights. 5. The
magnitude of the atomic weight determines the character of a compound body. 6.
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. 7. The atomic weight of an element may sometimes be amended
by a knowledge of those of its contiguous elements. Thus the atomic weight of
tellurium must lie between 123 and 126, and cannot be 128. 8. Certain
characteristic properties of elements can be foretold from their atomic
weights. (Mendeleev, Asimovs Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and
Technology. p. 408.) On November 29, 1870, Dmitri took his concepts even
further by realizing that it was possible to predict the properties of
undiscovered elements. He made predictions for three new elements
(eka-aluminum, eka-borno, and eka-silicon) and stated their properties of
density, radii, and combining ratios among oxygen, just to name a few.
Scientists were puzzled by these predications and many shunned them. Dmitris
ideas were finally taken seriously when in November, 1875, a Frenchman, Lecoq
de Boisbaudran discovered Dmitris predicted element, eka-aluminum, which he
decided to name Gallium. Later on, the two other elements were discovered and
their properties were found to be very close to when Dmitri had predicted.
This justified his periodic law and his predictions. At 35 years old, Dmitri
Mendeleev was at the top of the science world Throughout the rest of his
life, Dmitri received numerous awards from different organizations, including
the Davy Medal from the Royal Society of England in 1882, the Copley Medal,
the Societys highest award in 1905, and honorary degrees from different
universities around the world. After Dmitri had resigned from the University
of St. Petersburg, the Russian government had appointed him the Director of
Bureau of Weights and Measures in 1893. This had been done to keep public
disapproval of the government down. Until his death, Dmitri had been
considered a popular social figure. In his last lecture at the University of
St. Petersburg, Dmitri said: I have achieved an inner freedom. There is
nothing in this world that I fear to say. No one nor anything can silence me.
This is a good feeling. This is the feeling of a man. I want you to have this
feeling too it is my moral responsibility to help you achieve this inner
freedom. I am an evolutionist of a peaceable type. Proceed and a logical and
systematic manner. (Mendeleev, Encyclopedia of Chemistry, The. p.711.) Dmitri
was a man who rose out of the crowd to lead his people and followers into the
future. The motto of Dmitri Mendeleevs life was work, which he stated as:
Work, look for peace and calm in work: you will find it nowhere else.
Pleasures flit by they are only for yourself; work leaves a mark of
long-lasting joy, work is for others. (Mendeleev, Short History of Chemistry,
A. p. 195) On January 20 1907, at the age of 73, while listening to a reading
of Jules Vernes Journey to the North Pole, Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev floated
away, peacefully, for the last time. He was a genius of his time and made a
significant amount of contributions to his people and the entire world. He
helped modernize and set a faster pace for education in science, technology,
and politics. He also taught others the benefits of hard work and to always
believe in yourself and to stand behind and voice your opinions no matter how
radical they may seem
_Bibliography _
Asimov, Isaac. Mendeleev. (1964.) Asimovs Biographical Encyclopedia of
Science and Technology. Garden City, New York: Doubleday &Company, Inc. p.
408-410. Asimov, Issac. (1965.) Short History of Chemistry, A. Garden City,
New York: Doubleday &Company, Inc. p. 132, 134-136, 195, 218, 220-221, 235.
Clark, George L., Gessner G Hawley, &William A. Hamor. (1957.) Encyclopedia of
Chemistry, The. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation. p. 112, 583, 711.
Clemens, R. (1956.) Modern Chemical Discoveries. New York: E.P. Dutton &Co. p.
3-12 Encyclopedia of World Biography. Mendeleev. (1998.) 2nd edition. Vol.
10. Lov-Mic. Detroit: Gale. p. 486-488. Gillispie, Charles Coulston.
Mendeleev. (1974.) Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Volume IX. A.T.
Mac-K.F. New York: Charles Scribners Sons. p. 286-293. Harrow, B. (1927.)
Eminent Chemists of Our Time. 2nd edition. New York: Van Nostrand. p. 18-40,
273-285. Holmyard, E.J. (1929.) Makers of Chemistry. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
p. 267-273. Ley, Willy. (1968.) Discovery of the Elements, The. New York, New
York: Delacorte Press. p. 110-115.
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