Dmitri Mendeleev
Dmitri's Story
Dmitri Mendeleev was born on February 8th in 1834. He was born in Russia, the Russian Empire to be more specific. He was the youngest of many siblings, though no one knows how many he had. Dmitri had somewhere from 11 to 17 siblings! Mendeleev's father, who was a teacher, unfortunately went blind and lost his job. Shortly after, Mendeleev's father died, causing his mother to start working again. Her family had a lost glass factory, so she had to reopen it. The building suffered from a fire, and was ruined. After the death of his father, and loss of his mother's business, Mendeleev's life seemed to be falling apart. His mother wanted better for him, and they trekked from Russia to Siberia for a better education. He was not accepted at the Moscow university, He continued to search for his education, and attended the Main Pedagogical Institute in 1850. After he graduated, he unfortunately got tuberculosis. After he began to recover, Mendeleev became a science master (essentially a professor) at the Simferopol Gymnasium. In April of 1862, Dmitri became engaged to Feozva Nikitichna Leshcheva, and were married later that month! Dmitri later fell madly in love with Anna Ivanova Popova, and said that he would kill himself if she refused his marriage proposal. It wasn't until after their wedding that he and Feozva were divorced. Mendeleev later died after 72 years of life, due to influenza.
"No one nor anything can silence me."
-Dmitri Mendeleev
Major Accomplishments
The Periodic Table
In 1863, Dmitri Mendeleev formed the Periodic Table of Elements. There were 56 elements that had been discovered at the time. Other scientists had already started to order the elements by atomic mass, but they were not exact. Mendeleev didn't know that the table had already been started, so he made his own table. He added new elements that the other scientists didn't include. The table was arranged by atomic mass. He noticed patterns in the elements, and made his own version of the table. Using his table, he could see that there were missing elements in the Periodic Table, and wanted to find them out. He predicted (very accurately and in depth) details and principles of the elements he thought would be discovered. Eventually, 7 of the ten he described were found!
The Periodic Law
The periodic law, is a law of chemistry dealing with the elements and their properties. As the elements' atomic numbers increase, the similar numbers have extremely similar properties - both physical and chemical. It seems as though there's a system of recurring patterns in the elements. Mendeleev used this to make his Periodic Table. |
Professor Mendeleev
Dmitri and his mother searched hard for a college for him to attend, and eventually came upon Saint Petersburg. This is where he went to college, was married the first time, and became a professor. He taught in the years 1864 and 1865 before becoming a Doctor of Science. He had reached "tenure" in his job, which is an academic term, essentially meaning that you can't be fired without a reason. He started to reshape Saint Petersburg, until it became a place known for chemistry studies. |
The Spectroscope
One of the first things Mendeleev did at St. Petersburg (before becoming a professor of course) was studying the spectroscope, which is a device used to find the properties of light with a specific spectrum. Mendeleev also wrote his first book on the spectroscope. |
Mendelevium
Though Dmitri didn't quite do this on purpose, an element that was later found was named after him. This is because of his major contributions to chemistry, and the Periodic Table. Having an element named after you would be an extremely large accomplishment, even if you didn't mean to. To have an element named after you, you'd have to do some pretty amazing things. Mendeleev was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy Sciences, afterall. In 1906, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was very close to being given to Mendeleev. But the committee that gave away the award thought that it was too late to recognize Mendeleev for his Periodic Table and Law.
More on Mendelevium
Mendelevium was discovered in 1955, sadly after Mendeleev died (1907). It is a radioactive element, with an atomic mass of 258 u. The atomic number for Mendelevium is 101. It's element symbol is simple enough, Md. Mendelevium's melting point is over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit! Mendelevium doesn't have much of a purpose, only for research. It is a man made element, which is rather interesting if you think about it. Not only was an element named after Mendeleev, but someone wanted an element to be named after him. Mendelevium is made by combining einsteinium and helium.
More on Mendelevium
Mendelevium was discovered in 1955, sadly after Mendeleev died (1907). It is a radioactive element, with an atomic mass of 258 u. The atomic number for Mendelevium is 101. It's element symbol is simple enough, Md. Mendelevium's melting point is over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit! Mendelevium doesn't have much of a purpose, only for research. It is a man made element, which is rather interesting if you think about it. Not only was an element named after Mendeleev, but someone wanted an element to be named after him. Mendelevium is made by combining einsteinium and helium.
^This is a short video I've created using Animoto, on two more things Mendeleev did.
^A quick recap about Mendeleev and why he's important.
In Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to thank you for your time in reading this website. I hope you've found this information useful, and have learned about Dmitri Mendeleev. We can conclude that even though he had a rough early life, a disastrous romance, and was prone to illness, he was still very much a genius. We know so much more about the elements today, and we can thank Mendeleev for it. We can all learn from Mendeleev - when things are hard, don't give up. You might just become a famous chemist.
CITATIONS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev
http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/101/mendelevium
http://dwb.unl.edu/teacher/nsf/c04/c04links/www.fwkc.com/encyclopedia/low/articles/p/p019000875f.html
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dmitri_mendeleev.html
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Dmitri_Ivanowitsh_Mendeleev.jpg
http://www.petroleum.co.uk/images/petroleum.jpg
http://www.bluffton.edu/~bergerd/nsc_111/images/Mendeleev.gif
http://www.scitechantiques.com/Spectroscope/images/463PrismSpectrometer.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Mendeleev's_1869_periodic_table.png
Page created by Megan M. -From Wisconsin. I created this page about Dmitri Mendeleev because he impacted science greatly. Without him, experiments and using elements would be very challenging. I enjoy reading and writing stories.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev
http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/101/mendelevium
http://dwb.unl.edu/teacher/nsf/c04/c04links/www.fwkc.com/encyclopedia/low/articles/p/p019000875f.html
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dmitri_mendeleev.html
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Dmitri_Ivanowitsh_Mendeleev.jpg
http://www.petroleum.co.uk/images/petroleum.jpg
http://www.bluffton.edu/~bergerd/nsc_111/images/Mendeleev.gif
http://www.scitechantiques.com/Spectroscope/images/463PrismSpectrometer.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Mendeleev's_1869_periodic_table.png
Page created by Megan M. -From Wisconsin. I created this page about Dmitri Mendeleev because he impacted science greatly. Without him, experiments and using elements would be very challenging. I enjoy reading and writing stories.