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This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Ivanovich and the
family name is Mendeleev.
Dmitri Mendeleev
DIMendeleevCab.jpg
Dmitri Mendeleev in 1897
Born Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev
8 February 1834
Verkhnie Aremzyani, Tobolsk Governorate, Russian Empire
Died 2 February 1907 (aged 72)
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Nationality Russian
Alma mater Saint Petersburg University
Known for Formulating the Periodic table of chemical elements
Spouse(s)
Feozva Nikitichna Leshcheva (1862–1871)
Anna Ivanovna Popova (1882)
Awards
Davy Medal (1882)
ForMemRS (1892)[1]
Scientific career
Fields Chemistry, physics
Academic advisors Gustav Kirchhoff
Notable students
Dmitri Petrovich Konovalov
Valery Gemilian
Alexander Baykov[citation needed]
Signature
Mendelejew signature.jpg
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (often romanized as Mendeleyev or Mendeleef) (English: /
ˌmɛndəlˈeɪəf/ MEN-dəl-AY-əf;[2] Russian: Дмитрий Иванович Менделеев,[note 1] tr.
Dmítriy Ivánovich Mendeléyev, IPA: [ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ mʲɪnʲdʲɪˈlʲejɪf] (About
this soundlisten); 8 February 1834 – 2 February 1907 [OS 27 January 1834 – 20
January 1907]) was a Russian chemist and inventor. He is best remembered for
formulating the Periodic Law and creating a farsighted version of the periodic
table of elements. He used the Periodic Law not only to correct the then-accepted
properties of some known elements, such as the valence and atomic weight of
uranium, but also to predict the properties of eight elements that were yet to be
discovered.

Contents
1 Early life
2 Periodic table
3 Later life
4 Other achievements
5 Intellectual activities beyond chemistry
5.1 Vodka myth
6 Commemoration
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links
Early life
Mendeleev was born in the village of Verkhnie Aremzyani, near Tobolsk in Siberia,
to Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev (1783–1847) and Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleeva (née
Kornilieva) (1793–1850).[3][4] Ivan worked as a school principal and a teacher of
fine arts, politics and philosophy at the Tambov and Saratov gymnasiums.[5] Ivan's
father, Pavel Maximovich Sokolov, was a Russian Orthodox priest from the Tver
region.[6] As per the tradition of priests of that time, Pavel's children were
given new family names while attending the theological seminary,[7] with Ivan
getting the family name Mendeleev after the name of a local landlord.[8]

Maria Kornilieva came from a well-known family of Tobolsk merchants, founders of

the first Siberian printing house who traced their ancestry to Yakov Korniliev, a
17th-century posad man turned a wealthy merchant.[9][10] In 1889 a local librarian
published an article in the Tobolsk newspaper where he claimed that Yakov was a
baptized Teleut, an ethnic minority known as "white Kalmyks" at the time.[11] Since
no sources were provided and no documented facts of Yakov's life were ever
revealed, biographers generally dismiss it as a myth.[12][13] In 1908, shortly
after Mendeleev's death, one of his nieces published Family Chronicles. Memories
about D. I. Mendeleev where she voiced "a family legend" about Maria's grandfather
who married "a Kyrgyz or Tatar beauty whom he loved so much that when she died, he
also died from grief".[14] This, however, contradicts the documented family
chronicles, and neither of those legends is supported by Mendeleev's autobiography,
his daughter's or his wife's memoirs.[4][15][16] Yet some Western scholars still
refer to Mendeleev's supposed "Mongol", "Tatar", "Tartarian" or simply "Asian"
ancestry as a fact.[17][18][19][20]

Mendeleev was raised as an Orthodox Christian, his mother encouraging him to

"patiently search divine and scientific truth".[21] His son would later inform that
he departed from the Church and embraced a form of "romanticized deism".[22]

Mendeleev was the youngest of 17 siblings, of whom "only 14 stayed alive to be

baptized" according to Mendeleev's brother Pavel, meaning the others died soon
after their birth.[5] The exact number of Mendeleev's siblings differs among
sources and is still a matter of some historical dispute.[23][24] Unfortunately for
the family's financial well being, his father became blind and lost his teaching
position. His mother was forced to work and she restarted her family's abandoned
glass factory. At the age of 13, after the passing of his father and the
destruction of his mother's factory by fire, Mendeleev attended the Gymnasium in
Tobolsk.

In 1849, his mother took Mendeleev across Russia from Siberia to Moscow with the
aim of getting Mendeleev enrolled at the Moscow University.[8] The university in
Moscow did not accept him. The mother and son continued to Saint Petersburg to the
father's alma mater. The now poor Mendeleev family relocated to Saint Petersburg,
where he entered the Main Pedagogical Institute in 1850. After graduation, he
contracted tuberculosis, causing him to move to the Crimean Peninsula on the
northern coast of the Black Sea in 1855. While there, he became a science master of
the 1st Simferopol Gymnasium. In 1857, he returned to Saint Petersburg with fully
restored health.

Between 1859 and 1861, he worked on the capillarity of liquids and the workings of
the spectroscope in Heidelberg. Later in 1861, he published a textbook named
Organic Chemistry.[25] This won him the Demidov Prize of the Petersburg Academy of
Sciences.[25]

On 4 April 1862 he became engaged to Feozva Nikitichna Leshcheva, and they married
on 27 April 1862 at Nikolaev Engineering Institute's church in Saint Petersburg
(where he taught).[26]
Mendeleev became a professor at the Saint Petersburg Technological Institute and
Saint Petersburg State University in 1864,[25] and 1865, respectively. In 1865 he
became Doctor of Science for his dissertation "On the Combinations of Water with
Alcohol". He achieved tenure in 1867 at St. Petersburg University and started to
teach inorganic chemistry, while succeeding Voskresenskii to this post.[25] and by
1871 he had transformed Saint Petersburg into an internationally recognized center
for chemistry research.

Periodic table
See also: History of the periodic table

Mendeleev's 1871 periodic table

Part of a series on the
Periodic table
Periodic table forms[show]
Periodic table history[hide]
Dmitri Mendeleev predictions
Discovery of elements
Naming & etymology
for placesfor peoplecontroversies
(in East Asia)
Systematic element names
Sets of elements
By periodic table structure[show]
By metallic classification[show]
By other characteristics[show]
Elements
List of chemical elements[show]
Properties of elements[show]
Data pages for elements[show]
BookCategoryChemistry Portal
vte

Sculpture in honor of Mendeleev and the periodic table, located in Bratislava,

Slovakia
In 1863, there were 56 known elements with a new element being discovered at a rate
of approximately one per year. Other scientists had previously identified
periodicity of elements. John Newlands described a Law of Octaves, noting their
periodicity according to relative atomic weight in 1864, publishing it in 1865. His
proposal identified the potential for new elements such as germanium. The concept
was criticized and his innovation was not recognized by the Society of Chemists
until 1887. Another person to propose a periodic table was Lothar Meyer, who
published a paper in 1864 describing 28 elements classified by their valence, but
with no predictions of new elements.

After becoming a teacher in 1867, Mendeleev wrote the definitive textbook of his
time: Principles of Chemistry (two volumes, 1868–1870). It was written as he was
preparing a textbook for his course.[25] This is when he made his most important
discovery.[25] As he attempted to classify the elements according to their chemical
properties, he noticed patterns that led him to postulate his periodic table; he
claimed to have envisioned the complete arrangement of the elements in a dream:[27]
[28][29][30][31]

I saw in a dream a table where all elements fell into place as required. Awakening,
I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper, only in one place did a correction
later seem necessary.

— Mendeleev, as quoted by Inostrantzev[32][33]

Unaware of the earlier work on periodic tables going on in the 1860s, he made the
following table:

Cl 35.5 K 39 Ca 40
Br 80 Rb 85 Sr 88
I 127 Cs 133 Ba 137
By adding additional elements following this pattern, Mendeleev developed his
extended version of the periodic table.[34][35] On 6 March 1869, he made a formal
presentation to the Russian Chemical Society, titled The Dependence between the
Properties of the Atomic Weights of the Elements, which described elements
according to both atomic weight (now called relative atomic mass) and valence.[36]
[37] This presentation stated that

The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weight, exhibit an apparent

periodicity of properties.
Elements which are similar regarding their chemical properties either have similar
atomic weights (e.g., Pt, Ir, Os) or have their atomic weights increasing regularly
(e.g., K, Rb, Cs).
The arrangement of the elements in groups of elements in the order of their atomic
weights corresponds to their so-called valencies, as well as, to some extent, to
their distinctive chemical properties; as is apparent among other series in that of
Li, Be, B, C, N, O, and F.
The elements which are the most widely diffused have small atomic weights.
The magnitude of the atomic weight determines the character of the element, just as
the magnitude of the molecule determines the character of a compound body.
We must expect the discovery of many yet unknown elements – for example, two
elements, analogous to aluminium and silicon, whose atomic weights would be between
65 and 75.
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. (Tellurium's atomic weight is 127.6, and Mendeleev was
incorrect in his assumption that atomic weight must increase with position within a
period.)
Certain characteristic properties of elements can be foretold from their atomic
weights.
Mendeleev published his periodic table of all known elements and predicted several
new elements to complete the table in a Russian-language journal. Only a few months
after, Meyer published a virtually identical table in a German-language journal.
[38][39] Mendeleev has the distinction of accurately predicting the properties of
what he called ekasilicon, ekaaluminium and ekaboron (germanium, gallium and
scandium, respectively).[40][41]

Mendeleev also proposed changes in the properties of some known elements. Prior to
his work, uranium was supposed to have valence 3 and atomic weight about 120.
Mendeleev realized that these values did not fit in his periodic table, and doubled
both to valence 6 and atomic weight 240 (close to the modern value of 238)[42].

For his predicted eight elements, he used the prefixes of eka, dvi, and tri
(Sanskrit one, two, three) in their naming. Mendeleev questioned some of the
currently accepted atomic weights (they could be measured only with a relatively
low accuracy at that time), pointing out that they did not correspond to those
suggested by his Periodic Law. He noted that tellurium has a higher atomic weight
than iodine, but he placed them in the right order, incorrectly predicting that the
accepted atomic weights at the time were at fault. He was puzzled about where to
put the known lanthanides, and predicted the existence of another row to the table
which were the actinides which were some of the heaviest in atomic weight. Some
people dismissed Mendeleev for predicting that there would be more elements, but he
was proven to be correct when Ga (gallium) and Ge (germanium) were found in 1875
and 1886 respectively, fitting perfectly into the two missing spaces.[43]
By using Sanskrit prefixes to name "missing" elements, Mendeleev may have recorded
his debt to the Sanskrit grammarians of ancient India, who had created
sophisticated theories of language based on their discovery of the two-dimensional
patterns of speech sounds (arguably most strikingly exemplified by the Śivasūtras
in Pāṇini's Sanskrit grammar). Mendeleev was a friend and colleague of the
Sanskritist Otto von Böhtlingk, who was preparing the second edition of his book on
Pāṇini[44] at about this time, and Mendeleev wished to honor Pāṇini with his
nomenclature.[45][46][47]

The original draft made by Mendeleev would be found years later and published under
the name Tentative System of Elements.[48]

Dmitri Mendeleev is often referred to as the Father of the Periodic Table. He

called his table or matrix, "the Periodic System".[49]

Later life

Dmitri Mendeleev
In 1876, he became obsessed with Anna Ivanova Popova and began courting her; in
1881 he proposed to her and threatened suicide if she refused. His divorce from
Leshcheva was finalized one month after he had married Popova (on 2 April[50]) in
early 1882. Even after the divorce, Mendeleev was technically a bigamist; the
Russian Orthodox Church required at least seven years before lawful remarriage. His
divorce and the surrounding controversy contributed to his failure to be admitted
to the Russian Academy of Sciences (despite his international fame by that time).
His daughter from his second marriage, Lyubov, became the wife of the famous
Russian poet Alexander Blok. His other children were son Vladimir (a sailor, he
took part in the notable Eastern journey of Nicholas II) and daughter Olga, from
his first marriage to Feozva, and son Ivan and twins from Anna.

Though 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),[51] he resigned from Saint Petersburg
University on 17 August 1890. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society
(ForMemRS) in 1892,[1] and in 1893 he was appointed director of the Bureau of
Weights and Measures, a post which he occupied until his death.[52]

Mendeleev also investigated the composition of petroleum, and helped to found the
first oil refinery in Russia. He recognized the importance of petroleum as a
feedstock for petrochemicals. He is credited with a remark that burning petroleum
as a fuel "would be akin to firing up a kitchen stove with bank notes".[53]

Mendeleev, Alfred Werner, Adolf von Baeyer and other prominent chemists
In 1905, Mendeleev was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
The following year the Nobel Committee for Chemistry recommended to the Swedish
Academy to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 1906 to Mendeleev for his
discovery of the periodic system. The Chemistry Section of the Swedish Academy
supported this recommendation. The Academy was then supposed to approve the
Committee's choice, as it has done in almost every case. Unexpectedly, at the full
meeting of the Academy, a dissenting member of the Nobel Committee, Peter Klason,
proposed the candidacy of Henri Moissan whom he favored. Svante Arrhenius, although
not a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, had a great deal of influence in
the Academy and also pressed for the rejection of Mendeleev, arguing that the
periodic system was too old to acknowledge its discovery in 1906. According to the
contemporaries, Arrhenius was motivated by the grudge he held against Mendeleev for
his critique of Arrhenius's dissociation theory. After heated arguments, the
majority of the Academy chose Moissan by a margin of one vote.[54] The attempts to
nominate Mendeleev in 1907 were again frustrated by the absolute opposition of
Arrhenius.[55]

In 1907, Mendeleev died at the age of 72 in Saint Petersburg from influenza. His
last words were to his physician: "Doctor, you have science, I have faith," which
is possibly a Jules Verne quote.[56]

Other achievements
Mendeleev made other important contributions to chemistry. The Russian chemist and
science historian Lev Chugaev has characterized him as "a chemist of genius, first-
class physicist, a fruitful researcher in the fields of hydrodynamics, meteorology,
geology, certain branches of chemical technology (explosives, petroleum, and fuels,
for example) 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." Mendeleev was one of the founders, in 1869, of the Russian
Chemical Society. He worked on the theory and practice of protectionist trade and
on agriculture.

In an attempt at a chemical conception of the Aether, he put forward a hypothesis

that there existed two inert chemical elements of lesser atomic weight than
hydrogen.[52] Of these two proposed elements, he thought the lighter to be an all-
penetrating, all-pervasive gas, and the slightly heavier one to be a proposed
element, coronium.

Mendeleev devoted much study and made important contributions to the determination
of the nature of such indefinite compounds as solutions.

Mendeleev Medal
In another department of physical chemistry, he investigated the expansion of
liquids with heat, and devised a formula similar to Gay-Lussac's law of the
uniformity of the expansion of gases, while in 1861 he anticipated Thomas Andrews'
conception of the critical temperature of gases by defining the absolute boiling-
point of a substance as the temperature at which cohesion and heat of vaporization
become equal to zero and the liquid changes to vapor, irrespective of the pressure
and volume.[52]

Mendeleev is given credit for the introduction of the metric system to the Russian
Empire.

He invented pyrocollodion, a kind of smokeless powder based on nitrocellulose. This

work had been commissioned by the Russian Navy, which however did not adopt its
use. In 1892 Mendeleev organized its manufacture.

Mendeleev studied petroleum origin and concluded hydrocarbons are abiogenic and
form deep within the earth – see Abiogenic petroleum origin. He wrote: "The capital
fact to note is that petroleum was born in the depths of the earth, and it is only
there that we must seek its origin." (Dmitri Mendeleev, 1877)[57]

Intellectual activities beyond chemistry

Beginning in the 1870s, he published widely beyond chemistry, looking at aspects of
Russian industry, and technical issues in agricultural productivity. He explored
demographic issues, sponsored studies of the Arctic Sea, tried to measure the value
of chemical fertilizers, and promoted the a merchant navy.[58] He was especially
active in promoting the Russian petroleum industry, making careful detail
comparisons with the more advanced industry in Pennsylvania.[59] He joined in the
debate about the scientific claims of spiritualism, arguing that metaphysical
idealism was no more than ignorant superstition. He bemoaned the widespread
acceptance of spiritualism in Russian culture, and its negative effects on the
study of science.[60] Although he was not well grounded in economic theory, he
helped convince the Ministry of Finance in 1887-1891 to impose a temporary tariff
in 1891 which, based on his wide travels in Europe, suggested it would allow
Russian industry to mature faster.[61] After resigning his professorship at St.
Petersburg University following a dispute with officials at the Ministry of
Education in 1907, he became director of Russia's Central Bureau of Weights and
Measures, he led the way to standardize fundamental prototypes and measurement
procedures. He set up an inspection system, and introduced the metric system to
Russia.[62][63]

Vodka myth
A very popular Russian story is that it was Mendeleev who came up with the 40%
standard strength of vodka in 1894, after having been appointed Director of the
Bureau of Weights and Measures with the assignment to formulate new state standards
for the production of vodka. This story has, for instance, been used in marketing
claims by the Russian Standard vodka brand that "In 1894, Dmitri Mendeleev, the
greatest scientist in all Russia, received the decree to set the Imperial quality
standard for Russian vodka and the 'Russian Standard' was born",[64] or that the
vodka is "compliant with the highest quality of Russian vodka approved by the royal
government commission headed by Mendeleev in 1894".[65]

While it is true that Mendeleev in 1892 became head of the Archive of Weights and
Measures in Saint Petersburg, and evolved it into a government bureau the following
year, that institution was never involved in setting any production quality
standards, but was issued with standardising Russian trade weights and measuring
instruments. Furthermore, the 40% standard strength was already introduced by the
Russian government in 1843, when Mendeleev was nine years old.[65]

The basis for the whole story is a popular myth that Mendeleev's 1865 doctoral
dissertation "A Discourse on the combination of alcohol and water" contained a
statement that 38% is the ideal strength of vodka, and that this number was later
rounded to 40% to simplify the calculation of alcohol tax. However, Mendeleev's
dissertation was about alcohol concentrations over 70% and he never wrote anything
about vodka.[65][66][67]

Commemoration

Bust of Mendeleev in the city of Mendeleyevsk, Tatarstan

A number of places and objects are associated with the name and achievements of the
scientist.

In Saint Petersburg his name was given to D. I. Mendeleev Institute for Metrology,
the National Metrology Institute,[68] 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[69] 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.

[70]

After him 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 mineral mendeleevite-Ce, Cs6(Ce22Ca6)(Si70O175)(OH,F)14(H2O)21, was named in
Mendeleev's honor in 2010.[71] The related species mendeleevite-Nd,
Cs6[(Nd,REE)23Ca7](Si70O175)(OH,F)19(H2O)16, was described in 2015.[72]

A large lunar impact crater Mendeleev, that is located on the far side of the Moon,
also bears the name of the scientist.

The Russian Academy of Sciences has occasionally awarded a Mendeleev Golden Medal
since 1965.[73]

See also
List of Russian chemists
Mendeleev's predicted elements
Periodic systems of small molecules
Notes
In Mendeleev's day, his name was written Дмитрій Ивановичъ Менделѣевъ.
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"Fellows of the Royal Society". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original
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"Mendeleev". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
Rao, C N R; Rao, Indumati (2015). Lives and Times of Great Pioneers in Chemistry:
(Lavoisier to Sanger). World Scientific. p. 119. ISBN 978-981-4689-07-6.
Maria Mendeleeva (1951). D. I. Mendeleev's Archive: Autobiographical Writings.
Collection of Documents. Volume 1 // Biographical notes about D. I. Mendeleev
(written by me – D. Mendeleev), p. 13. – Leningrad: D. I. Mendeleev's Museum-
Archive, 207 pages (in Russian)
Maria Mendeleeva (1951). D. I. Mendeleev's Archive: Autobiographical Writings.
Collection of Documents. Volume 1 // From a family tree documented in 1880 by
brother Pavel Ivanovich, p. 11. Leningrad: D. I. Mendeleev's Museum-Archive, 207
pages (in Russian)
Dmitriy Mendeleev: A Short CV, and A Story of Life, mendcomm.org
Удомельские корни Дмитрия Ивановича Менделеева (1834–1907) Archived 8 September
2007 at the Wayback Machine, starina.library.tver.ru
Larcher, Alf (21 June 2019). "A mother's love: Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleeva".
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2539. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
Yuri Mandrika (2004). Tobolsk Governorate Vedomosti: Staff and Authors. Anthology
of Tobolsk Journalism of the late XIX – early XX centuries in 2 Books // From the
interview with Maria Mendeleeva, born Kornilieva, p. 351. Tumen: Mandr i Ka, 624
pages
Elena Konovalova (2006). A Book of the Tobolsk Governance. 1790–1917. Novosibirsk:
State Public Scientific Technological Library, 528 page, p. 15 (in Russian) ISBN 5-
94560-116-0
Yuri Mandrika (2004). Tobolsk Governorate Vedomosti: Staff and Authors. Anthology
of Tobolsk Journalism of the late XIX – early XX centuries in 2 Books // The
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Eugenie Babaev (2009). "Mendelievia. Part 3" article from the Chemistry and Life –
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Alexei Storonkin, Roman Dobrotyn (1984). D. I. Mendeleev's Life and Work
Chronicles. Leningrad: Nauka, 539 pages, p. 25
Nadezhda Gubkina (1908). Family Chronicles. Memories about D. I. Mendeleev. Saint
Petersburg, 252 pages
"Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev comes from indigenous Russian people", p. 5 // Olga
Tritogova-Mendeleeva (1947). Mendeleev and His Family. Moscow: Academy of Sciences
Publishing House, 104 pages
Anna Mendeleeva (1928). Mendeleev in Life. Moscow: M. and S. Sabashnikov
Publishing House, 194 pages
Loren R. Graham, Science in Russia and the Soviet Union: A Short History,
Cambridge University Press (1993), p. 45
Isaac Asimov, Asimov on Chemistry, Anchoor Books (1975), p. 101
Leslie Alan Horvitz, Eureka!: Scientific Breakthroughs that Changed the World,
John Wiley & Sons (2002), p. 45
Lennard Bickel, The deadly element: the story of uranium, Stein and Day (1979), p.
22
Hiebert, Ray Eldon; Hiebert, Roselyn (1975). Atomic Pioneers: From ancient Greece
to the 19th century. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Division of Technical
Information. p. 25.
Gordin, Michael D. (2004). A Well-ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev And The Shadow
Of The Periodic Table. Basic Books. pp. 229–230. ISBN 978-0-465-02775-0. Mendeleev
seemed to have very few theological commitments. This was not for lack of exposure.
His upbringing was actually heavily religious, and his mother – by far the
dominating force in his youth – was exceptionally devout. One of his sisters even
joined a fanatical religious sect for a time. Despite, or perhaps because of, this
background, Mendeleev withheld comment on religious affairs for most of his life,
reserving his few words for anti-clerical witticisms ... Mendeleev's son Ivan later
vehemently denied claims that his father was devoutly Orthodox: "I have also heard
the view of my father's 'church religiosity' – and I must reject this
categorically. From his earliest years Father practically split from the church –
and if he tolerated certain simple everyday rites, then only as an innocent
national tradition, similar to Easter cakes, which he didn't consider worth
fighting against." ... Mendeleev's opposition to traditional Orthodoxy was not due
to either atheism or a scientific materialism. Rather, he held to a form of
romanticized deism.
Johnson, George (3 January 2006). "The Nitpicking of the Masses vs. the Authority
of the Experts". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
When the Princeton historian of science Michael Gordin reviewed this article as
part of an analysis of the accuracy of Wikipedia for the 14 December 2005 issue of
Nature, he cited as one of Wikipedia's errors that "They say Mendeleev is the 14th
child. He is the 14th surviving child of 17 total. 14 is right out." However in a
January 2006 article in The New York Times, it was noted that in Gordin's own 2004
biography of Mendeleev, he also had the Russian chemist listed as the 17th child,
and quoted Gordin's response to this as being: "That's curious. I believe that is a
typographical error in my book. Mendeleyev was the final child, that is certain,
and the number the reliable sources have is 13." Gordin's book specifically says
that Mendeleev's mother bore her husband "seventeen children, of whom eight
survived to young adulthood", with Mendeleev being the youngest. See: Johnson,
George (3 January 2006). "The Nitpicking of the Masses vs. the Authority of the
Experts". The New York Times. and Gordin, Michael (22 December 2005).
"Supplementary information to accompany Nature news article "Internet
encyclopaedias go head to head" (Nature 438, 900–901; 2005)" (PDF).
Blogs.Nature.com. p. 178 – via 2004.
Heilbron 2003, p. 509.
"Семья Д.И.Менделеева". Rustest.spb.ru. Archived from the original on 22 September
2010. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
John B. Arden (1998). "Science, Theology and Consciousness", Praeger Frederick A.
p. 59: "The initial expression of the commonly used chemical periodic table was
reportedly envisioned in a dream. In 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev claimed to have had a
dream in which he envisioned a table in which all the chemical elements were
arranged according to their atomic weight."
John Kotz, Paul Treichel, Gabriela Weaver (2005). "Chemistry and Chemical
Reactivity," Cengage Learning. p. 333
Gerard I. Nierenberg (1986). "The art of creative thinking", Simon & Schuster, p.
201: Dmitri Mendeleev's solution for the arrangement of the elements that came to
him in a dream.
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Academy website
Further reading
Gordin, Michael (2004). A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev and the Shadow of
the Periodic Table. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02775-0.
Heilbron, John L. (2003). The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science.
Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-974376-6.
Mendeleev, Dmitry Ivanovich; Jensen, William B. (2005). Mendeleev on the Periodic
Law: Selected Writings, 1869–1905. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-
0-486-44571-7.
Strathern, Paul (2001). Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest For the Elements. New York:
St Martins Press. ISBN 978-0-241-14065-9.
Mendeleev, Dmitrii Ivanovich (1901). Principles of Chemistry. New York: Collier.
"Mendeléeff, Dmitri IvanovichMITRI (1834–1907)". The Encyclopaedia Britannica; A
Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information. XVIII (Medal to
Mumps ) (11th ed.). Cambridge, England and New York: At the University Press. 1911.
p. 115. Retrieved 5 October 2018 – via Internet Archive.
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Dmitri Mendeleev
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dmitri Mendeleev.
Wikisource has original works written by or about:
Dmitri Mendeleev
Works by Dmitri Mendeleev at Project Gutenberg
Babaev, Eugene V. (February 2009). Dmitriy Mendeleev: A Short CV, and A Story of
Life – 2009 biography on the occasion of Mendeleev's 175th anniversary
Babaev, Eugene V., Moscow State University. Dmitriy Mendeleev Online
Original Periodic Table, annotated.
"Everything in its Place", essay by Oliver Sacks
Works by or about Dmitri Mendeleev in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Dmitri Mendeleev's official site
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