The Russian Genius. Dmitry Mendeleev

The event that laid the new foundation of the world science development 150 years ago will be celebrated next year. The General Assembly of the UN proclaimed the year 2019 the universal year of the Periodic Table of the Elements. Our magazine started a series of publications devoted to the great advent and its author, an outstanding Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleev.

Studentship 

A spare-built blue-eyed young man appeared in front of the entrance of the St. Petersburg Central Teachers College in 1850. This is how Dmitry Mendeleev’s scientific and creative career started — he became a student of the Natural faculty of Mathematics and Physics. In those days the Central Teachers College was famous for its brilliant faculty room and a perfectly equipped laboratory where the future scientist made his first steps in the fields of examining the chemical behavior of the substances.

Mendeleev was sickly, but it did not prevent him from becoming one of the best students of the College. His fabulous working ability appealed to his course mates and teachers. Professor Alexander Abramovich Voskresensky, well-known as “The Grandfather of the Russian chemistry”, had all the reasons to be proud of his protégé. Dmitry Mendeleev was brilliant at his final examinations and got the golden medal. 

A year after the talented young scientist defended his thesis and took a master’s degree in Physics and Chemistry. At the age of 23 he started giving lectures at the University of St. Petersburg in 1857. His rank did not give him a big salary, that is why Mendeleev had to take extra work. He taught Physiography in the Second Cadet Corps, gave private lessons and kept a column “The Natural Science News”, in the Ministry of Public Education journal.

Travelling Abroad 

A two-year business trip to German city of Heidelberg became a milestone event in the great chemist’s biography. In those days the local university was the centre of the natural sciences, physics and chemistry, first of all. Mendeleev organized a laboratory in his apartment, bought all the necessary equipment and started working. He communicated a lot with the leading scientists, visited other colligiate towns, got acquainted with the future big heads of the Russian science: Alexander Borodin, Ivan Sechenov, Sergey Botkin, Eduard Yunge, Ivan Vyshnegradsky. 

In 1860 Mendeleev actively participated in the first Universal Chemistry Congress in Carlsruhe, Germany. The results of the congress had a great meaning: the scientists from all over the world started speaking one language. Afterwards Mendeleev mentioned that the Congress became the turning point in the development of the idea of the periodic law. 

A Talented Teacher

On his return to St. Petersburg in 1861, the scientist poured himself into scientific and teaching work. In the record narrow term he created his first Russian manual for organic chemistry. Later he got the Demidov’s prize of Academy of Science for it. Apart from the University, Mendeleev taught in St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, the Engineer Academy, the Lines of Communication Engineer Institute. 

In 1865 Dmitry Mendeleev presented his doctoral thesis “The Discourse on the combination of spirit with water” to the University Board of Academics of the Mathematics faculty. It was this work that gave rise to the myth that Mendeleev found the secret of making Russian vodka. In sober fact, the research was devoted to examination of the spirit concentration that was higher that 70 degrees. 

The very same year the young scientist took the charge of the technical chemistry department and later on, he headed the Abiochemistry (General Chemistry) department. 

The scientist used to say that it is necessary to “appeal as much Russian power as possible into the science”. The talented tutor’s lectures gathered all the university students. “Mendeleev’s course was a kind of a natural science encyclopedia with a thread of Abiochemisty. His lectures were full of excursions in the fields of mechanics, physics, astronomy, astrophysics, cosmogony, meteorology, geology, physiology of animals and plants, agronomy and also different branches of different techniques concerning air navigation and artillery.” All these facts we can find out from the memories of the physic Boris Veinberg. 

Giving lectures gave Mendeleev the idea of wring a manual in working process of which the Periodic Law was invented afterwards. “The Principles of Chemistry” became the example of the basic chemical terms and was republished 8 times

The Periodic Law

The 6th of March of 1869 will remain unforgettable in the history of Chemistry. An article under the name “The Dependence between the Properties of the Atomic Weights of the Elements” in the Russian Chemical society journal. This article was sent to many Russian and foreign scientists. 

Medeleev named his article an experiment for a reason. There was much work ahead. In the process of future research the scientist found out, that the element properties change in the different way from the atomic weights. It meant that they did not increase continuously form the first element to the last one, and after some increase fall down again.

The Mendeleev’s Periodic Law was finally summed up on the 3rd December 1870. The famous article “The periodic law for the chemical elements and classical edition of the table appeared in 1871. 

The periodic law let Mendeleev to predict the features of the majority of the unknown elements. His predictions came true. It was a triumph for theory and worldwide recognition of a Russian genius scientist. 

Holding the Top Spot. 

Mendeleev could not limit himself to “clear” science because of his character, intelligence and polyhistory. Moreover, he lived in the age of rapid development of chemical, oil and mining industry in other countries. He bitterly observed the underdevelopment of Russian economy. All his proposals concerning the improvement of the production process or creating a new one were supported by his documents of economy profit. “Being a chemist doesn’t mean keeping yourself a loof from plants and factories and their sate position and, therefore, the economic affairs concerned… You an wait for the right solution to economic questions only from appliance of experiment methods of natural science. That is why I remain being a chemist and defend all the measures for the development of Russian plants and factories”, — Mendeleev used to say.

 In 1863 Mendeleev visited the Baku oilfields since he became interested in oil genesis, extraction and refining. Bold and progressive recommendations concerning a new petroleum pipe-line from Baku to the Black Sea and special shipbuilding with oil storage tanks became the result of that trip. Mendeleev was the first of the Russian scientists who undertook a microchemichal study of oil and raised a point about its more sustainable usage. Dmitry Mendeleev came to the coal mining problem with his trademark diligent manner: he descended shafts for samples collection, studied midstreams of the rivers and even gathered information about the demurrage of railway cars. Frequent shafts fires gave Mendeleev an idea of the UCG (underground cole gasification). 

Specific interest to agriculture appeared when Mendeleev purchased the Boblovo estate in Moscow government. In the fields of Boblovo Mendeleev studied fertilizers and technics application. He managed to double the grain crop in five years. 

In 1887 the scientist took a flight on the hot air balloon named “Russian” to observe the solar eclipse. It was not the idle curiosity: at that time Mendeleev was working on gas pressure that provided the basis to his survey in the fields of meteorology and aerostatics afterwards. It turned out before the flight that the device can not take people to the air at once, and Mendeleev did not have any acquirements. After a heated argument the aerostate’s pilot jumped out of the gondola and ordered: “Сast off!”. The balloon streamed into the darkening sky. Dmitry Mendeleev was put up to the task: he coped with the control and made all the necessary tests. Among the instruments taken to the gondola there was a differential barometer designed by Mendeleev for the survey of hights. 

Many of the Mendeleev’s ideas went “against the clock” and were not implemented. In the scientist’s archives schematic stratostate, driven aerostate, ships, submarines and ice breakers drawings could be found. In the decline of years he pushed for implementing turbine tower engines to irrigate Povolzhye. All this happened in the days when new cole and oil fields just started working and becoming the energy substrate of the Russian industry. 

Twilight Years

Mendeleev devoted 15 last years of his life to civil service. In 1893 the scientist became the Head of the “Weights and Measures” department, where his best business qualities revealed. In the short period of time the department turned into a well-equipped constitution. 

Jumbo efforts were made to relaunch the archetype of Russian measures and weights: pound and archine under the direction of Mendeleev. The scientist made careful benchmarking analysis and achieved optional usage of the metric system in Russia. Hereby he prepared its mandatory application. 

Mendeleev once said: “A person who will biographise my life, will be very thankful to me”. Indeed, he left more than 500 scientific works, articles, surveys, created a Data of his library, made notes on his works with comments and biographical notes. But every researcher found something new in Mendeleev’s originative biography. The great scientist managed to achieve so may results that it is astonishing how one person could cope with all of this. When Mendeleev heard he was a genius from his contemporaries, he used to answer: “A genius? Nothing of the kind! I’ve been working all my life. That’s the sort of genius I am.”

D.Serzhenko