The greatest chemist who is credited with discovering the formula for vodka. An eccentric who saw his discovery in a dream, and an industrial spy. A great Russian scientist who did not receive the Nobel Prize for his revolutionary discovery. All this is about D.I. Mendeleev. What is fact and what is fiction? In the article we will offer one of the views on the discovery of the periodic table by D.I. Mendeleev, consider its significance in the world of chemistry and in the system of all social sciences. Let's not ignore the rumors and quirks of the great genius.
Brief biographical information
Dmitry Mendeleev was the seventeenth child in the family of the director of the Tobolsk gymnasium, born on February 8, 1834. He studied poorly at school, but at the Main Pedagogical Institute of St. Petersburg, in the department of natural sciences, things went better. Having completed it in 1855 with a gold medal, the scientist had several works on chemistry behind him. A year later, Mendeleev became a private assistant professor and began his teaching career. In 1864 he received the title of professor and chair at St. Petersburg University. He creates a controlled balloon, invents a device for measuring the density of liquids (pycnometer), and writes many works. Marries twice. The second one was successful and six children were born. The scientist’s heart stopped on February 2, 1907, surrounded by his children and his beloved wife Anna.
A long way in 20 years
According to legend, the idea of a system of elements came to D.I. Mendeleev in a dream. But documentary evidence tells a different story. Once, answering a question about the creation of his periodic table, the author said: “I’ve been thinking about it for maybe twenty years, but you think: I was sitting there and suddenly... it’s ready.”
The first day of spring 1869 in St. Petersburg was cloudy and frosty. Thirty-five-year-old D.I. Mendeleev drank his morning mug of milk and started breakfast. It was then that on a napkin he began to compare the atomic masses of chemical elements with their main properties. Breakfast was not finished, and from the office where he had retired, exclamations were heard, so well known to the household: “Oh, horned one! I will defeat you! This indicated that creative inspiration visited the scientist. And this was the beginning of the creation of a revolutionary system of elements and the Periodic Law of Chemical Elements by D.I. Mendeleev.
Maybe not in a dream, but in one day
Already on the evening of March 1, 1869, D. I. Mendeleev sent his work “An Experience of a System of Elements Based on Their Atomic Weight and Chemical Similarity” to the printing house. In his table, 63 known chemical elements took their places in accordance with their molecular weights. And the periodic dependence of the properties of simple substances and their compounds on the charge of their nucleus and atoms formulated by him became the main law of inorganic chemistry - the law of periodic elements by D.I. Mendeleev.
Already on March 18, the scientist’s report on his discoveries appeared in the journal of the Russian Chemical Society. It did not arouse optimism among the domestic scientific elite, as well as among foreign luminaries of chemistry. The system of elements of D.I. Mendeleev was called not something worth doing, but a classification of something uncertain.
The long-awaited triumph came in 1875, when the French chemist Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran discovered gallium (Ga), the existence of which had been predicted by Dmitry Ivanovich. Mendeleev’s “Aka-aluminium” and Lecoq’s gallium coincided completely: in atomic mass, density, compound formulas, and properties of the metal.
Opening value
The number of supporters of the Periodic Law and scientists grew increasingly. The discovery of “Ekabor” (Sc) and “Ecasilicon” (Es) - elements predicted and described by D. I. Mendeleev, expanded the circle of scientists who supported the discoverer.
The significance of Dmitry Ivanovich’s discovery is difficult to underestimate. The periodic table of elements by D.I. Mendeleev gave the green light to the development of modern chemistry, making it a unified and integral science. On its basis, the rapid development of the doctrine of the atom and universal connections in nature began. In addition, the system discovered by D.I. Mendeleev accelerated the prediction and discovery of new chemical elements. Chemistry has ceased to be a descriptive science, but has become a science with the possibility of scientific prediction.
What about the Nobel Prize?
Everyone knows that this prize has been awarded for the most outstanding discoveries since 1901, and the laureates are approved by members of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Stockholm in accordance with clear regulations.
Mendeleev's candidacy was submitted by the USSR Academy of Sciences for this prize on November 1, 1955. She was rejected, like Tolstoy, Chekhov and Gorky, and therefore there was even a refusal from the USSR to nominate scientists for the prize, which was considered not even international. The scandal did not break out, but what was the reason for it? There are several versions.
The first - as it turned out, Dmitry Ivanovich had already been nominated for this prize three times, in 1905, 1906 and 1907. But the candidacy was rejected by secret vote of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. The reason is that only foreigners applied for candidacy. So, maybe out of envy, maybe because of the difficult character of the scientist, there were no compatriots among those who defended the discovery and its inventor.
Maybe because Mendeleev, back in 1880, quarreled with the Minister of Education, who refused to accept a student petition from him, and was expelled from the university. And all his life this scientist was a patriot and a very objectionable element to the authorities. This is version two.
Version three - conflict with the Nobel family. An oil tycoon and brother of Alfred Nobel, the founder of the prize, Ludwig was at one time very dissatisfied with Mendeleev’s works on the theft of Baku oil and the monopoly on its production and distillation. After all, it was Dmitry Ivanovich who, back in 1860, proposed to oust the Nobel family and build an oil pipeline to deliver oil to Central Russia.
"Russian standard vodka" and Mendeleev
The scientist’s doctoral dissertation was called “Discourses on the combination of alcohol with water,” and there is not a word about vodka in it. It talks about the proportions of alcohol and water at which the maximum reduction in volume of the two liquids occurs. And it just so happened that the combination is 46 degrees. And forty-proof vodka appeared in Russia when the scientist was only 9 years old. In 1843, the Russian government introduced a rule on the minimum threshold of alcohol in vodka at 40 degrees “plus or minus” 2. This is how Russia fought with a diluted product. They also said that Dmitry Mendeleev made counterfeit French cognacs and wines for the merchant Eliseev, the alcohol magnate of Russia.
Industrial espionage and the luminary of Russian chemistry
Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev had to become a spy at the request of the Minister of Navy Nikolai Chikhachev in 1890. At that time, the issue of producing smokeless gunpowder, which was used in European countries, was important for imperial Russia. And the scientist ordered reports on railway transportation in Britain, Germany and France, analyzed supplies to gunpowder factories, and within a week gave the minister the proportions of two options for smokeless gunpowder for Russia. "Mendeleev's gunpowder", not patented in time by the Russian government, was intercepted by the Americans. And in 1914, Russia bought tons of it in America for gold, and the producers grinned, selling to the Russians “a Russian product - pyrocollodium.”
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev
Only these three words are engraved on the scientist’s grave at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg. Although the scientist’s authority was enormous, and the number of his titles and titles was more than a hundred. He, an honorary member of almost all domestic and foreign scientific societies, academies and universities, signed his private and official correspondence only with his last name and first name. Rarely adding the word “professor.”
According to eyewitnesses, on the anniversary of the death of the great chemist, words were said at his grave that nothing more should be written on his monument, because that says it all. According to the scientist himself, in his life there were only three services to the Motherland: the general Russian pride in his work, his thousands of famous students increasing the glory of the fatherland, and service for the benefit of the development of Russian industry.
Chemical element 101
Mendelevium (Md) is the name of an element discovered in 1955 and named after the great chemist. A crater on the far side of the Moon and an underwater mountain range in the Pacific Ocean are named after him. Several universities and many educational institutions around the world bear the name of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev. Since 1964, his name has graced the honor roll of the University of Bridgeport, one of the leading universities in the United States of America, on a par with Euclid, Archimedes, Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton and Antoine Lavoisier.
A man who sewed his own clothes, was fond of restoring and repairing suitcases, and a lover of rolled cigarettes, which he always rolled for himself. The author of the greatest work “Fundamentals of Chemistry” and the periodic table of elements, a talented teacher and favorite teacher, the founder of fractional distillation of oil and the theory of its inorganic origin, a supporter of the recycling of raw materials and the author of the work “Waste or Leftovers,” where he talks about the useless that can become useful , inventor of the balloon and pressurized compartments for the pilot and passengers, and so on. All this is about our great compatriot - Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, who with his “natural wildness of a Siberian” left an indelible impression on his contemporaries.
Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev is a Russian scientist, a brilliant chemist, physicist, researcher in the field of metrology, hydrodynamics, geology, a deep expert in industry, instrument maker, economist, aeronaut, teacher, public figure and original thinker.
Childhood and youth
The great scientist was born in 1834, on February 8, in Tobolsk. Father Ivan Pavlovich was the director of district schools and the Tobolsk gymnasium, descended from the family of priest Pavel Maksimovich Sokolov, Russian by nationality.
Ivan changed his last name in childhood, while a student at the Tver Seminary. Presumably, this was done in honor of his godfather, the landowner Mendeleev. Later, the question of the nationality of the scientist’s surname was repeatedly raised. According to some sources, she testified to Jewish roots, according to others, to German ones. Dmitry Mendeleev himself said that his last name was assigned to Ivan by his teacher from the seminary. The young man made a successful exchange and thereby became famous among his classmates. With two words - “to do” - Ivan Pavlovich was included in the educational record.
Mother Maria Dmitrievna (nee Kornilieva) was involved in raising children and housekeeping, and had a reputation as an intelligent and intelligent woman. Dmitry was the youngest in the family, the last of fourteen children (according to other information, the last of seventeen children). At the age of 10, the boy lost his father, who became blind and soon died.
While studying at the gymnasium, Dmitry did not show any abilities; Latin was the most difficult for him. His mother instilled a love for science, and she also participated in the formation of his character. Maria Dmitrievna took her son to study in St. Petersburg.
In 1850, in St. Petersburg, the young man entered the Main Pedagogical Institute at the department of natural sciences, physics and mathematics. His teachers were professors E. H. Lenz, A. A. Voskresensky and N. V. Ostrogradsky.
While studying at the institute (1850-1855), Mendeleev demonstrated extraordinary abilities. As a student, he published an article “On Isomorphism” and a series of chemical analyzes.
The science
In 1855, Dmitry received a diploma with a gold medal and a referral to Simferopol. Here he works as a senior teacher at the gymnasium. With the outbreak of the Crimean War, Mendeleev moved to Odessa and received a teaching position at the Lyceum.
In 1856 he was again in St. Petersburg. He studies at the university, defends his dissertation, teaches chemistry. In the fall, he defends another dissertation and is appointed as a private assistant professor at the university.
In 1859, Mendeleev was sent on a business trip to Germany. Works at the University of Heidelberg, sets up a laboratory, studies capillary liquids. Here he wrote articles “On the temperature of absolute boiling” and “On the expansion of liquids”, and discovered the phenomenon of “critical temperature”.
In 1861, the scientist returned to St. Petersburg. He creates the textbook “Organic Chemistry”, for which he was awarded the Demidov Prize. In 1864 he was already a professor, and two years later he headed the department, teaching and working on the “Fundamentals of Chemistry.”
In 1869, he introduced the periodic system of elements, to the improvement of which he devoted his entire life. In the table, Mendeleev presented the atomic masses of nine elements, later adding a group of noble gases to the table and leaving room for elements that had yet to be discovered. In the 90s, Dmitry Mendeleev contributed to the discovery of the phenomenon of radioactivity. The periodic law included evidence of the connection between the properties of elements and their atomic volume. Now next to each table of chemical elements there is a photo of the discoverer.
In 1865–1887 he developed the hydration theory of solutions. In 1872 he began to study the elasticity of gases, and two years later he derived the ideal gas equation. Among Mendeleev's achievements of this period was the creation of a scheme for fractional distillation of petroleum products, the use of tanks and pipelines. With the assistance of Dmitry Ivanovich, the burning of black gold in furnaces completely stopped. The scientist’s phrase “Burning oil is like burning a stove with banknotes” has become an aphorism.
Another area of activity of the scientist was geographical research. In 1875, Dmitry Ivanovich attended the Paris International Geographical Congress, where he presented his invention - a differential barometer-altimeter. In 1887, the scientist took part in a balloon trip into the upper atmosphere to observe a total solar eclipse.
In 1890, a quarrel with a high-ranking official caused Mendeleev to leave the university. In 1892, a chemist invents a method for producing smokeless gunpowder. At the same time, he is appointed keeper of the Depot of Exemplary Weights and Measures. Here he renews the prototypes of the pound and arshin, and makes calculations comparing Russian and English standards of measures.
On the initiative of Mendeleev, in 1899 the metric system of measures was optionally introduced. In 1905, 1906 and 1907, the scientist was nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Prize. In 1906, the Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Mendeleev, but the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences did not confirm this decision.
Mendeleev, who was the author of more than one and a half thousand works, had enormous scientific authority in the world. For his services, the scientist was awarded numerous scientific titles, Russian and foreign awards, and was an honorary member of a number of scientific societies at home and abroad.
Personal life
In his youth, an unpleasant incident happened to Dmitry. His courtship with the girl Sonya, whom he had known since childhood, ended in an engagement. But the pampered beauty never went to the crown. On the eve of the wedding, when preparations were already in full swing, Sonechka refused to get married. The girl thought that there was no point in changing anything if life was already good.
Dmitry was painfully worried about the breakup with his fiancée, but life went on as usual. He was distracted from his heavy thoughts by a trip abroad, lecturing and loyal friends. Having renewed his relationship with Feozva Nikitichnaya Leshcheva, whom he had known previously, he began dating her. The girl was 6 years older than Dmitry, but looked young, so the age difference was unnoticeable.
In 1862 they became husband and wife. The first daughter Masha was born in 1863, but lived only a few months. In 1865, a son, Volodya, was born, and three years later, a daughter, Olya. Dmitry Ivanovich was attached to children, but devoted little time to them, since his life was devoted to scientific activity. In a marriage concluded on the principle of “endure and fall in love,” he was not happy.
In 1877, Dmitry met Anna Ivanovna Popova, who became for him a person capable of supporting him with a smart word in difficult times. The girl turned out to be a creatively gifted person: she studied piano at the conservatory, and later at the Academy of Arts.
Dmitry Ivanovich hosted youth “Fridays”, where he met Anna. “Fridays” were transformed into literary and artistic “environments”, the regulars of which were talented artists and professors. Among them were Nikolai Wagner, Nikolai Beketov and others.
The marriage of Dmitry and Anna took place in 1881. Soon their daughter Lyuba was born, son Ivan appeared in 1883, twins Vasily and Maria - in 1886. In his second marriage, the scientist’s personal life was happy. Later, the poet became Dmitry Ivanovich's son-in-law, having married the daughter of the scientist Lyubov.
Death
At the beginning of 1907, a meeting between Dmitry Mendeleev and the new Minister of Industry Dmitry Filosofov took place in the Chamber of Weights and Measures. After touring the ward, the scientist fell ill with a cold, which caused pneumonia. But even being very ill, Dmitry continued to work on the manuscript “Towards the Knowledge of Russia”, the last words he wrote in which were the phrase:
“In conclusion, I consider it necessary, at least in the most general terms, to express...”
Death occurred at five o'clock in the morning on February 2 due to cardiac paralysis. The grave of Dmitry Mendeleev is located at the Volkov cemetery in St. Petersburg.
The memory of Dmitry Mendeleev is immortalized by a number of monuments, documentaries, and the book “Dmitry Mendeleev. The author of the great law."
- Many interesting biographical facts are associated with the name of Dmitry Mendeleev. In addition to his activities as a scientist, Dmitry Ivanovich was engaged in industrial exploration. In the 70s, the oil industry began to flourish in the United States, and technologies appeared that made the production of petroleum products cheaper. Russian manufacturers began to suffer losses in the international market due to their inability to compete on price.
- In 1876, at the request of the Russian Ministry of Finance and the Russian Technical Society, which collaborated with the military department, Mendeleev went overseas to an exhibition of technical innovations. On site, the chemist learned innovative principles for making kerosene and other petroleum products. And using ordered reports from European railway services, Dmitry Ivanovich tried to decipher the method of making smokeless gunpowder, which he succeeded in.
- Mendeleev had a hobby - making suitcases. The scientist sewed his own clothes.
- The scientist is credited with the invention of vodka and the moonshine still. But in fact, Dmitry Ivanovich, in the topic of his doctoral dissertation “Discourse on the combination of alcohol with water,” studied the issue of reducing the volume of mixed liquids. There was not a word about vodka in the scientist’s work. And the standard of 40° was established in Tsarist Russia back in 1843.
- He came up with pressurized compartments for passengers and pilots.
- There is a legend that the discovery of Mendeleev’s periodic system happened in a dream, but this is a myth created by the scientist himself.
- He rolled his own cigarettes using expensive tobacco. He said that he would never quit smoking.
Discoveries
- He created a controlled balloon, which became an invaluable contribution to aeronautics.
- He developed a periodic table of chemical elements, which became a graphic expression of the law established by Mendeleev during his work on the “Fundamentals of Chemistry”.
- He created a pycnometer, a device capable of determining the density of a liquid.
- Discovered the critical boiling point of liquids.
- Created an equation of state for an ideal gas, establishing the relationship between the absolute temperature of an ideal gas, pressure and molar volume.
- He opened the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures - the central institution of the Ministry of Finance, which was in charge of the verification department of the Russian Empire, subordinate to the trade department.
Brilliant encyclopedist: chemist, physicist, economist, technologist, geologist, meteorologist, aeronaut, teacher. He knew how and loved making suitcases.
Dmitry Ivanovich was the last, seventeenth child in the family of the director of the Tobolsk gymnasium. But by the time he was baptized, only five sisters and two brothers were alive; the rest of the babies died before they were baptized. There were two cults in the Mendeleev family - books and work.
There have always been many legends around Mendeleev. Contrary to one of them, he did not invent vodka at all - it existed long before him. He only calculated the ideal ratio of alcohol to water, that is, its strength is 38 degrees, but to simplify the calculations of the alcohol tax, officials rounded it up to 40.
He came up with another legend, that he dreamed about the periodic table in a dream, especially for persistent fans who do not understand what insight is. And it just dawned on him, it dawned on him, and he immediately understood in what order the cards should be laid out so that each element would take its rightful place, leaving gaps in the table for elements that had not yet been opened (which were actually opened, but much later). He studied the most complex table for only a year. On the evening of March 1, 1869, he rewrote it completely, called it “An experiment on a system of elements based on their atomic weight and chemical similarity,” sent it to the printing house, published it, and lost all interest in it.
His range of interests was so wide that he was not limited exclusively to chemistry. For example, in 1863, he was the first to put forward the idea of using a pipeline to pump oil and petroleum products. The development of this idea was of great importance for Russian industry, in which the oil industry began to rapidly develop.
Long before the creation of a hermetic gondola by the conqueror of the stratosphere, Auguste Piccard, Mendeleev, in one of his articles, put forward the idea of “attaching to a balloon a hermetically sealed, braided, elastic device to accommodate an observer, who would then be provided with compressed air and could safely control the balloon.”
In 1887, Mendeleev independently ascended in a hot air balloon to observe a solar eclipse. Starting near Klin, he landed in the Tver province. This flight was discussed all over the world, and the French Academy of Meteorological Aeronautics awarded him a diploma “For his courage during the flight to observe a solar eclipse.”
In 1892, Mendeleev accepted the offer of Prime Minister Witte to take the position of “scientific custodian” at the depot of exemplary weights and measures. He began his activities by recreating new “prototypes” of the main measures of length and weight and their copies, as well as carefully checking them with existing European standards. As a result, in 1899, the Law on Weights and Measures was introduced in Russia, which established the basic units of measurement - the pound and the arshin. Mendeleev also insisted on the inclusion in this law of a clause allowing the optional use of international metric measures - the kilogram and the meter.
He also invented a new smokeless gunpowder, but the Russian government, then headed not by Witte, but by Stolypin, did not have time to patent it, and the invention sailed overseas, although the scientist warned about the consequences of such sloppiness. In 1914, the Russian military department was forced to purchase several thousand tons of this gunpowder from the United States for gold. The Americans themselves, laughing, did not hide the fact that they were selling “Mendeleev’s gunpowder” to the Russians.
Mendelev had a unique systematic way of thinking; he developed any business down to the smallest detail - from the size of the mines in the Donbass to the books that should be read to the children of miners. He was an outstanding economist, an ardent supporter of protectionism and economic independence of Russia. In his works “Letters about factories”, “Intelligible tariff...” he took the position of protecting Russian industry from competition from Western countries, linking the development of Russian industry with a common customs policy. The scientist noted the economic injustice that allows countries that process raw materials to reap the fruits of the labor of countries that supply these raw materials. This order, in his opinion, “gives the haves all the advantage over the have-nots.”
Dmitry Ivanovich loved to make suitcases, which is why he was often called “Master of Suitcase Mendeleev.” He loved to smoke rolled cigarettes. I rolled them myself and did not use a mouthpiece, so the second and third fingers of my hand were always yellow. He smoked good and expensive tobacco, repeating that he would never quit smoking.
He knew almost all the outstanding artists and writers of his time. His only daughter Lyuba was the wife of A. Blok.
They say that Mendeleev had almost no friends. He was openly at odds with many scientists. His main opponent, Leo Tolstoy, wrote: “He has a lot of interesting materials, but his conclusions are terribly stupid.” Mendeleev himself wrote almost the same thing about Tolstoy: “He is a genius, but stupid.”
“Often what is important is not the truth itself, but its illumination and the strength of the argument developed in its favor. It is also important that a brilliant scientist shares his thoughts, who told the whole world that he is capable of creating great things, finding the key to the innermost secrets of nature. In this case, Mendeleev’s position perhaps resembles that taken by the great artists Shakespeare or Tolstoy. The truths presented in their works are as old as the world, but those artistic images in which these truths are clothed will remain young forever.”
L. A. Chugaev
“A brilliant chemist, a first-class physicist, a fruitful researcher in the field of hydrodynamics, meteorology, geology, in various departments of chemical technology and other disciplines related to chemistry and physics, a deep expert in the chemical industry and industry in general, especially Russian, an original thinker in the field of the study of national economy , a statesman who, unfortunately, was not destined to become a statesman, but who saw and understood the tasks and future of Russia better than the representatives of our official government.” This assessment of Mendeleev is given by Lev Aleksandrovich Chugaev.
Dmitry Mendeleev was born on January 27 (February 8), 1834 in Tobolsk, the seventeenth and last child in the family of Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev, who at that time held the position of director of the Tobolsk gymnasium and schools of the Tobolsk district. In the same year, Mendeleev's father went blind and soon lost his job (died in 1847). All care for the family then passed to Mendeleev’s mother, Maria Dmitrievna, née Kornilieva, a woman of outstanding intelligence and energy. She managed to simultaneously manage a small glass factory, which provided (along with a meager pension) a more than modest livelihood, and take care of the children, whom she gave an excellent education for that time. She paid a lot of attention to her youngest son, in whom she was able to discern his extraordinary abilities. However, Mendeleev did not study well at the Tobolsk gymnasium. Not all subjects were to his liking. He willingly studied only mathematics and physics. His aversion to the classical school remained with him throughout his life.
Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleeva died in 1850. Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev retained a grateful memory of her until the end of his days. This is what he wrote many years later, dedicating his essay “Study of Aqueous Solutions by Specific Gravity” to the memory of his mother: “This study is dedicated to the memory of the mother by her last child. She could grow it only with her labor, running a factory; She raised her by example, corrected her with love, and in order to give to science, she took her out of Siberia, spending her last resources and strength. Dying, she bequeathed: to avoid Latin self-delusion, to insist on work, not words, and to patiently seek divine or scientific truth, because she understood how often dialectics deceives, how much still needs to be learned, and how, with the help of science, without violence, lovingly, but prejudices and errors are firmly eliminated, and the following are achieved: protection of the acquired truth, freedom of further development, common good and internal well-being. D. Mendeleev considers his mother’s covenants sacred.”
Mendeleev found favorable soil for the development of his abilities only at the Main Pedagogical Institute in St. Petersburg. Here he met outstanding teachers who knew how to instill in the souls of their listeners a deep interest in science. Among them were the best scientific forces of that time, academicians and professors of St. Petersburg University. The very environment of the institute, with all the strictness of the regime of a closed educational institution, thanks to the small number of students, the extremely caring attitude towards them and their close connection with the professors, provided ample opportunity for the development of individual inclinations.
Mendeleev's student research related to analytical chemistry: studying the composition of the minerals orthite and pyroxene. Subsequently, he did not actually engage in chemical analysis, but always considered it as a very important tool for clarifying various research results. Meanwhile, it was the analyzes of orthite and pyroxene that became the impetus for choosing the topic of his diploma work (dissertation): “Isomorphism in connection with other relationships of crystalline form to composition.” It began with these words: “The laws of mineralogy, like other natural sciences, relate to three categories that determine the objects of the visible world - form, content and properties. The laws of forms are subject to crystallography, the laws of properties and content are governed by the laws of physics and chemistry.”
The concept of isomorphism played a significant role here. This phenomenon has been studied by Western European scientists for several decades. In Russia, Mendeleev was essentially the first in this field. The detailed review he compiled of factual data and observations and the conclusions formulated on its basis would have done credit to any scientist specially dealing with the problems of isomorphism. As Mendeleev later recalled, “the preparation of this dissertation involved me in the study of chemical relations most of all. This determined a lot." He would later call the study of isomorphism one of the “precursors” that contributed to the discovery of the Periodic Law.
After completing the course at the institute, Mendeleev worked as a teacher, first in Simferopol, then in Odessa, where he used Pirogov’s advice. In 1856, he returned to St. Petersburg, where he defended his dissertation for a master's degree in chemistry, “On Specific Volumes.” At the age of 23 he became an associate professor at St. Petersburg University, where he taught first theoretical and then organic chemistry.
In 1859, Mendeleev was sent on a two-year business trip abroad. If many of his other compatriots-chemists were sent abroad mainly “to improve education”, without having their own research programs, then Mendeleev, in contrast to them, had a clearly developed program. He went to Heidelberg, where the names of Bunsen, Kirchhoff and Kopp attracted him, and there he worked in a laboratory organized by him, mainly studying the phenomena of capillarity and surface tension of liquids, and spent his leisure hours in the circle of young Russian scientists: S. P. Botkin, I. M. Sechenov, I. A. Vyshnegradsky, A. P. Borodin and others.
In Heidelberg, Mendeleev made a significant experimental discovery: he established the existence of an “absolute boiling point” (critical temperature), upon reaching which, under certain conditions, a liquid instantly turns into steam. Soon a similar observation was made by the Irish chemist T. Andrews. Mendeleev worked in the Heidelberg laboratory primarily as an experimental physicist, and not a chemist. He failed to solve the task - to establish “the true measure for the adhesion of liquids and find its dependence on the weight of the particles.” More precisely, he did not have time to do this - his business trip expired.
At the end of his stay in Heidelberg, Mendeleev wrote: “The main subject of my studies is physical chemistry. Newton was also convinced that the cause of chemical reactions lies in simple molecular attraction, which determines cohesion and is similar to the phenomena of mechanics. The brilliance of purely chemical discoveries has made modern chemistry a completely special science, separating it from physics and mechanics, but, undoubtedly, the time must come when chemical affinity will be considered as a mechanical phenomenon... I have chosen as my specialty those questions whose solution this time can bring closer "
This handwritten document was preserved in Mendeleev’s archive; in it, he essentially expressed his “cherished thoughts” regarding the directions of knowledge of the deep essence of chemical phenomena.
In 1861, Mendeleev returned to St. Petersburg, where he resumed lecturing on organic chemistry at the university and published works entirely devoted to organic chemistry. One of them, purely theoretical, is called “An Experience in the Theory of the Limits of Organic Compounds.” In it he develops original ideas about their limiting forms in individual homological series. Thus, Mendeleev turns out to be one of the first theorists in the field of organic chemistry in Russia. He published a textbook, remarkable for that time, “Organic Chemistry” - the first Russian textbook in which the idea that unites the entire set of organic compounds is the theory of limits, originally and comprehensively developed. The first edition quickly sold out, and the student was reprinted the following year. For his work, the scientist was awarded the Demidov Prize, the highest scientific award in Russia at that time. After some time, A. M. Butlerov characterizes it this way: “This is the only and excellent original Russian work on organic chemistry, only because it is unknown in Western Europe because a translator has not yet been found for it.”
Nevertheless, organic chemistry did not become any noticeable area of Mendeleev’s activity. In 1863, the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University elected him as a professor in the department of technology, but due to his lack of a master’s degree in technology, he was confirmed in the position only in 1865. Before that, in 1864, Mendeleev was also elected professor of the St. Petersburg University Institute of Technology
In 1865, he defended his thesis “On compounds of alcohol with water” for the degree of Doctor of Chemistry, and in 1867 he received the department of inorganic (general) chemistry at the university, which he held for 23 years. Having started preparing lectures, he discovered that neither in Russia nor abroad there was a course in general chemistry worthy of being recommended to students. And then he decided to write it himself. This fundamental work, called “Fundamentals of Chemistry,” was published in separate issues over several years. The first issue, containing an introduction, a discussion of general issues of chemistry, and a description of the properties of hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, was completed relatively quickly - it appeared in the summer of 1868. But while working on the second issue, Mendeleev encountered great difficulties associated with the systematization and consistency of presentation material describing chemical elements. At first, Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev wanted to group all the elements he described by valence, but then he chose a different method and combined them into separate groups, based on the similarity of properties and atomic weight. Reflection on this question brought Mendeleev closely to the main discovery of his life, which was called Mendeleev's Periodic Table.
The fact that some chemical elements exhibit obvious similarities was no secret to chemists of those years. The similarities between lithium, sodium and potassium, between chlorine, bromine and iodine, or between calcium, strontium and barium were striking. In 1857, the Swedish scientist Lensen combined several “triads” by chemical similarity: ruthenium - rhodium - palladium; osmium - platinum - iridium; manganese - iron - cobalt. Even attempts have been made to compile tables of the elements. The Mendeleev library contained a book by the German chemist Gmelin, who published such a table in 1843. In 1857, the English chemist Odling proposed his own version. However, none of the proposed systems covered the entire set of known chemical elements. Although the existence of separate groups and separate families could be considered an established fact, the connection between these groups remained unclear.
Mendeleev managed to find it by arranging all the elements in order of increasing atomic mass. Establishing a periodic pattern required an enormous amount of thought from him. Having written the elements with their atomic weights and fundamental properties on separate cards, Mendeleev began to arrange them in various combinations, rearranging and changing places. The matter was complicated by the fact that many elements had not yet been discovered at that time, and the atomic weights of those already known were determined with great inaccuracies. Nevertheless, the desired pattern was soon discovered. Mendeleev himself spoke in this way about his discovery of the Periodic Law: “Having suspected the existence of a relationship between elements back in my student years, I never tired of thinking about this problem from all sides, collecting materials, comparing and contrasting figures. Finally the time came when the problem was ripe, when the solution seemed about to take shape in my head. As has always happened in my life, the premonition of an imminent resolution of the question that was tormenting me led me into an excited state. For several weeks I slept in fits and starts, trying to find that magical principle that would immediately put in order the entire pile of material accumulated over 15 years. And then one fine morning, having spent a sleepless night and despairing of finding a solution, I lay down on the sofa in the office without undressing and fell asleep. And in a dream I saw a table quite clearly. I immediately woke up and sketched out the table I saw in my dream on the first piece of paper that came to hand.”
Thus, Mendeleev himself came up with the legend that he dreamed of the periodic table in a dream, for persistent fans of science who do not understand what insight is.
Mendeleev, being a chemist, took the chemical properties of elements as the basis for his system, deciding to arrange chemically similar elements below each other, while observing the principle of increasing atomic weights. It didn't work out! Then the scientist simply took and arbitrarily changed the atomic weights of several elements (for example, he assigned uranium an atomic weight of 240 instead of the accepted 60, i.e., he increased it fourfold!), rearranged cobalt and nickel, tellurium and iodine, put three empty cards, predicting the existence of three unknown elements. Having published the first version of his table in 1869, he discovered the law that “the properties of elements are periodically dependent on their atomic weight.”
This was the most important thing in Mendeleev’s discovery, which made it possible to connect together all the groups of elements that had previously seemed disparate. Mendeleev quite correctly explained the unexpected disruptions in this periodic series by the fact that not all chemical elements are known to science. In his table, he left blank cells, but predicted the atomic weight and chemical properties of the proposed elements. He also corrected a number of inaccurately determined atomic masses of elements, and further research completely confirmed his correctness.
The first, still imperfect draft of the table was reconstructed in the following years. Already in 1869, Mendeleev placed the halogens and alkali metals not in the center of the table, as before, but along its edges (as is done now). In the following years, Mendeleev corrected the atomic weights of eleven elements and changed the location of twenty. As a result, in 1871, the article “Periodic Law for Chemical Elements” appeared, in which the periodic table took on a completely modern form. The article was translated into German and copies of it were sent to many famous European chemists. But, alas, no one appreciated the importance of the discovery made. The attitude towards the Periodic Law changed only in 1875, when F. Lecocde Boisbaudran discovered a new element - gallium, the properties of which strikingly coincided with the predictions of Mendeleev (he called this still unknown element eka-aluminium). Mendeleev's new triumph was the discovery of scandium in 1879, and germanium in 1886, the properties of which also fully corresponded to Mendeleev's descriptions.
Until the end of his life, he continued to develop and improve the doctrine of periodicity. The discoveries of radioactivity and noble gases in the 1890s presented the periodic system with serious difficulties. The problem of placing helium, argon and their analogues in the table was successfully resolved only in 1900: they were placed in an independent zero group. Further discoveries helped link the abundance of radioelements to the structure of the system.
Mendeleev himself considered the main flaw of the Periodic Law and the periodic system to be the lack of a strict physical explanation for them. It was impossible until the model of the atom was developed. However, he firmly believed that “according to the periodic law, the future does not threaten destruction, but only promises superstructures and development” (diary entry dated July 10, 1905), and the 20th century provided many confirmations of this confidence of Mendeleev.
The ideas of the Periodic Law, which were finally formed during the work on the textbook, determined the structure of the “Fundamentals of Chemistry” (the last edition of the course with the Periodic Table attached to it was published in 1871) and gave this work amazing harmony and fundamentality. All the vast factual material accumulated by this time on various branches of chemistry was presented here for the first time in the form of a coherent scientific system. “Fundamentals of Chemistry” went through eight editions and was translated into major European languages.
While working on the publication of “Fundamentals,” Mendeleev was actively engaged in research in the field of inorganic chemistry. In particular, he wanted to find the elements he predicted in natural minerals, and also to clarify the problem of “Rare Earths,” which were extremely similar in properties and did not fit well into the table. However, such research was unlikely to be within the power of one scientist. Mendeleev could not waste his time, and at the end of 1871 he turned to a completely new topic - the study of gases.
Experiments with gases acquired a very specific character - these were purely physical studies. Mendeleev can rightfully be considered one of the largest among the few experimental physicists in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. As in Heidelberg, he was engaged in the design and manufacture of various physical instruments.
Mendeleev studied the compressibility of gases and the thermal coefficient of their expansion in a wide range of pressures. He was not able to fully carry out the planned work, however, what he managed to do became a noticeable contribution to the physics of gases.
First of all, this includes the derivation of the equation of state of an ideal gas containing the universal gas constant. It was the introduction of this quantity that played a crucial role in the development of gas physics and thermodynamics. When describing the properties of real gases, he was also not far from the truth.
The physical “component” of Mendeleev’s creativity clearly manifests itself in the 1870-1880s. Of the almost two hundred works he published during this period, at least two thirds were devoted to studies of the elasticity of gases, various issues of meteorology, in particular measuring the temperature of the upper layers of the atmosphere, clarifying the patterns of dependence of atmospheric pressure on altitude, for which he developed designs of aircraft that would allow observing temperature, pressure and humidity at high altitudes.
Mendeleev's scientific works constitute only a small part of his creative heritage. As one of the biographers rightly noted, “science and industry, agriculture, public education, social and government issues, the world of art - everything attracted his attention, and everywhere he showed his powerful individuality.”
In 1890, Mendeleev left St. Petersburg University in protest against the infringement of university autonomy and devoted all his energies to practical problems. Back in the 1860s, Dmitry Ivanovich began to deal with the problems of specific industries and entire industries, and studied the conditions for the economic development of individual regions. As the material accumulates, he proceeds to develop his own program for the socio-economic development of the country, which he sets out in numerous publications. The government involves him in the development of practical economic issues, primarily on customs tariffs.
A consistent supporter of protectionism, Mendeleev played an outstanding role in the formation and implementation of Russia's customs and tariff policy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With his active participation, in 1890, a draft of a new customs tariff was created, in which a protective system was consistently implemented, and in 1891, a wonderful book, “The Explanatory Tariff,” was published, which provides a commentary on this project and, at the same time, a deeply thought-out overview of Russian industry indicating its needs and future prospects. This major work became a kind of economic encyclopedia of post-reform Russia. Mendeleev himself considered it a priority and dealt with it enthusiastically. “What kind of chemist I am, I am a political economist; that there is “Fundamentals” [of chemistry], but “Intelligible Tariff” is a different matter,” he said. A feature of Mendeleev’s creative method was complete “immersion” in the topic of interest to him, when for some time the work was carried out continuously, often almost around the clock. As a result, he created scientific works of impressive volume in an amazingly short time.
The naval and military ministries entrusted Mendeleev (1891) with the development of the issue of smokeless gunpowder, and he (after a trip abroad) in 1892 brilliantly completed this task. The “pyrocollodium” he proposed turned out to be an excellent type of smokeless gunpowder, moreover, universal and easily adaptable to any firearm. (Subsequently, Russia purchased “Mendeleev’s” gunpowder from the Americans who acquired the patent).
In 1893, Mendeleev was appointed manager of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures, which had just been transformed on his instructions, and remained in this post until the end of his life. There Mendeleev organized a number of works on metrology. In 1899 he made a trip to the Ural factories. The result was an extensive and highly informative monograph on the state of Ural industry.
The total volume of Mendeleev's works on economic topics amounts to hundreds of printed sheets, and the scientist himself considered his work one of the three main directions of service to the Motherland, along with work in the field of natural science and teaching. Mendeleev advocated the industrial path of development of Russia: “I have not been and will not be a manufacturer, a breeder, or a trader, but I know that without them, without giving them important and significant significance, it is impossible to think about the sustainable development of the well-being of Russia.”
His works and performances were distinguished by a bright and figurative language, an emotional and interested manner of presenting the material, i.e., by what was characteristic of the unique “Mendeleev style”, “the natural wildness of the Siberian”, which never succumbed to any gloss,” which made an indelible impression on contemporaries.
Mendeleev remained at the forefront of the struggle for the economic development of the country for many years. He had to refute accusations that his activities in promoting the ideas of industrialization were due to personal interest. In a diary entry dated July 10, 1905, the scientist also noted that he saw his task in attracting capital to industry, “without getting dirty with contact with them... Let me be judged here, as and who wants, I have nothing to repent of, for neither I did not serve capital, nor brute force, nor my wealth one iota, but only tried and, as long as I can, I will try to give a fruitful, industrially real business to my country... Science and industry - these are my dreams.”
While caring about the development of domestic industry, Mendeleev could not ignore the problems of environmental protection. Already in 1859, the 25-year-old scientist published an article “On the origin and destruction of smoke” in the first issue of the Moscow magazine “Bulletin of Industry”. The author points out the great harm that untreated exhaust gases cause: “Smoke darkens the day, penetrates into homes, dirty the facades of buildings and public monuments and causes many inconveniences and ill health.” Mendeleev calculates the theoretically required amount of air for complete combustion of fuel, analyzes the composition of various types of fuel, and the combustion process. He especially emphasizes the harmful effects of sulfur and nitrogen contained in coals. This remark of Mendeleev is especially relevant today, when in various industrial installations and in transport, in addition to coal, a lot of diesel fuel and fuel oil, which have a high sulfur content, are burned.
In 1888, Mendeleev developed a project for clearing the Don and Seversky Donets, which was discussed with representatives of the city authorities. In the 1890s, the scientist took part in the publication of the Brockhaus and Efron encyclopedic dictionary, where he published a number of articles on the topics of nature conservation and resources. In the article “Waste Water,” he examines in detail the natural treatment of wastewater, using a number of examples to show how wastewater from industrial enterprises can be purified. In the article “Waste or Residues (Technical),” Mendeleev gives many examples of useful recycling of waste, especially industrial waste. “Recycling of waste,” he writes, “generally speaking, is the transformation of useless goods into goods of valuable properties, and this constitutes one of the most important achievements of modern technology.”
The breadth of Mendeleev’s work on the conservation of natural resources is characterized by his research in the field of forestry during a trip to the Urals in 1899. Mendeleev carefully studied the growth of various varieties of trees (pine, spruce, fir, birch, larch, etc.) on a huge area of the Ural region and Tobolsk province. The scientist insisted that “the annual consumption should be equal to the annual increase, because then the descendants will have as much left as we received.”
The emergence of a powerful figure of a scientist, encyclopedist and thinker was a response to the needs of developing Russia. The creative genius of Mendeleev was in demand by time. Reflecting on the results of his many years of scientific activity and accepting the challenges of the time, Mendeleev increasingly turned to socio-economic issues, explored the patterns of the historical process, and clarified the essence and features of his contemporary era. It is noteworthy that this direction of thought is one of the characteristic intellectual traditions of Russian science.
It is known that in 1964 the name of Mendeleev was included on the honor board of the University of Connecticut in Bridgeport in the USA along with the names of Euclid, Archimedes, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, and Lavoisier. DI. Mendeleev was a member of more than 90 academies of sciences, scientific societies, and universities in different countries.
Section Education Non-state educational institution "Secondary General Education School of D.I. Mendeleev" (Udomlya, Tver Region) College of Chemical Technology named after. Mendeleev (St. Petersburg) Russian Chemical-Technological University named after. DI. Mendeleev (Moscow) Novosibirsk Chemical-Technological College named after. D. I. Mendeleev (Novosibirsk) Novosibirsk Chemical-Technological College named after. D. I. Mendeleev (Novosibirsk) All-Russian Research Institute of Metrology named after D. I. Mendeleev (St. Petersburg) All-Russian Research Institute of Metrology named after D. I. Mendeleev (St. Petersburg) Chemical and Biological School -lyceum 15 (South Kazakhstan region, Shymkent city) Tobolsk State Pedagogical Institute named after. D.I.Mendeleev Museum of D.I.Mendeleev in Gymnasium 344 (St. Petersburg) Tyumen Regional Scientific Library named after D.I. Mendeleev (Tyumen) Library named after. D.I.Mendeleev (Omsk) Russian Chemical Society named after. DI. Mendeleev (Moscow) Moscow Chemical Society named after. D. I. Mendeleev (Moscow) Charitable public foundation for the preservation of the heritage of D. I. Mendeleev "BOBLOVO". Charitable public foundation for the preservation of the heritage of D.I. Mendeleev "BOBLOVO". Museum-archive of D.I. Mendeleev (St. Petersburg) Museum - estate of D.I. Mendeleev "Boblovo" (Klin, Moscow region) Museum of Metrology of the Gosstandart named after. D.I. Mendeleev
Section Science Periodic table of chemical elements Mendeleev-Claiperon equation of state for an ideal gas Mendeleev's formula for the relationship between density and temperature of a liquid Mendeleev's formula for the relationship between density and temperature of a liquid Mendeleev's pycnometer D.I. Mendeleev's method of weighing (obtaining accurate results even on unregulated scales) Gold medal D.I. Mendeleev for outstanding work in the field of chemistry and chemical technology (Russian Chemical Society named after D.I. Mendeleev). Personalized prize named after. D.I. Mendeleev (Government of St. Petersburg and the Presidium of the St. Petersburg Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences) International Chemical Olympiad named after. D.I. Mendeleev (under the auspices of Moscow State University) All-Russian competition of research works of students of educational institutions, dedicated to the life and work of D.I. Mendeleev (Charitable public foundation for the preservation of the heritage of D.I. Mendeleev) All-Russian competition of research works of students of educational institutions, dedicated to the life and work of D.I. Mendeleev (Charitable public foundation for the preservation of the heritage of D.I. Mendeleev)
Section Industry Chemical Plant named after D.I. Mendeleev (St. Petersburg) Yaroslavl Oil Refinery named after Mendeleev Chemical Plant named after Mendeleev (Agryz, Tatarstan) Mendeleev experimental field (Perm region) Minsk Laboratory named after Mendeleev LLC "Mendeleev-Test" (Moscow region, Solnechnogorsk district, Mendeleevo village) Chemical element 101 "Mendeleev" Mineral "Mendeleev" Research vessel of the Academy of Sciences "Dmitry Mendeleev" Vodka "Mendeleevskaya" Putty
Section Geography Mendeleev Glacier Mendeleev Crater on the Moon Underwater Mendeleev Ridge in the Arctic Ocean Mendeleev Volcano (Kunashir Island) City of Mendeleevsk (Republic of Tatarstan) Village of Mendeleevo (Moscow region, Solnechnogorsk district) Mendeleevo railway station (Perm region, Karagai region) ) Mendeleevskaya metro station (Moscow) Mendeleevskaya metro line (St. Petersburg) Lunar station "Mendeleev". (Fiction, Stanislav Lem, "Conditioned Reflex")
