Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev - Russian scientist, chemist, physicist, metrologist, economist, technologist, geologist, meteorologist, oilman, teacher, aeronaut and instrument-maker. Corresponding Member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Among the most famous discoveries is the periodic law of chemical elements (see interesting facts about chemistry).
The biography of Dmitry Mendeleev is full of many interesting facts that relate to his personal and scientific life.
So, before you is a short biography of Mendeleev.
Biography of Dmitry Mendeleev
Dmitry Mendeleev was born on January 27 (February 8) 1834 in Tobolsk. He grew up and was brought up in the family of Ivan Pavlovich, the director of several Tobolsk schools. In the 1840s, Mendeleev Sr. received exiled Decembrists in his house.
Dmitry's mother, Maria Dmitrievna, was an educated woman who was involved in raising children. In the Mendeleev family, 14 children were born (according to other sources 17), where the youngest was Dmitry. It is worth noting that 8 children died in infancy.
Childhood and youth
When Mendeleev was barely 10 years old, he lost his father, who lost his sight shortly before his death.
This was the first serious loss in the biography of the future scientist.
During his studies at the gymnasium, Dmitry did not have good academic performance, receiving mediocre grades in many disciplines. One of the most difficult subjects for him was Latin.
Nevertheless, his mother helped the boy develop a love for science, who later took him to study in St. Petersburg.
At the age of 16, Dmitry Mendeleev successfully passes exams at the Main Pedagogical Institute at the Department of Natural Sciences of Physics and Mathematics.
At this time, the young man studies well and even publishes an article "On isomorphism." As a result, he graduated from the institute with honors.
The science
In 1855 Dmitry Mendeleev was appointed senior teacher of natural sciences at the Simferopol men's gymnasium. After working here for less than a year, he moved to Odessa, where he got a job as a teacher at a lyceum.
Then Mendeleev defended his dissertation on "The structure of silica compounds", which allowed him to lecture. Soon he defended another thesis and was appointed assistant professor of the university.
In 1859 Dmitry Ivanovich was sent to Germany. There he studied capillary liquids, and also published several scientific articles on various topics. After 2 years, he returned back to St. Petersburg.
In 1861 Mendeleev published the textbook "Organic Chemistry", for which he received the Demidov Prize.
Every day the fame of the Russian scientist acquired ever larger proportions. Already at the age of 30, he became a professor, and after a couple of years he was entrusted to head the department.
During this period of his biography, Dmitry Mendeleev was engaged in teaching, and also worked diligently on "Fundamentals of Chemistry". In 1869, he introduced the periodic table of elements to the scientific world, which brought him worldwide recognition.
Initially, the periodic table contained an atomic mass of only 9 elements. Later, a group of noble gases was added to it. In the table, you could see a lot of empty cells for not yet opened elements.
In the 1890s, the scientist made a significant contribution to the discovery of such a phenomenon as - radioactivity. He also studied and developed the hydration theory of solutions with interest.
Soon Mendeleev became interested in the study of the elasticity of gases, as a result of which he was able to derive the equation of an ideal gas.
At that time in his biography, the chemist developed a system for fractional distillation of oil products, along with the use of tanks and pipelines. Due to this, oil combustion in furnaces was no longer practiced.
On this occasion, Mendeleev uttered his famous phrase: "Burning oil is the same as stoking the stove with banknotes."
Dmitry Ivanovich's area of interest also included geography. He created a differential barometer-altimeter, which was presented at one of the geographical congresses in France.
It is curious that at the age of 53, the scientist decided to take part in a balloon flight in the upper atmosphere for the sake of observing a total solar eclipse.
A few years later, Mendeleev had a serious conflict with one of the prominent officials. As a consequence, he decided to leave the university.
In 1892 Dmitry Mendeleev invented the technology of extracting smokeless powder. In parallel with this, he was engaged in the calculations of Russian and English measurement standards. Over time, with his submission, the metric system of measures was optionally introduced.
During the biography of 1905-1907. Mendeleev was nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Prize. In 1906, the Nobel Committee awarded the prize to a Russian scientist, but the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences did not confirm this decision.
During the years of his life, Dmitry Mendeleev published over 1,500 works. For his invaluable contribution to the development of world science, he was awarded many prestigious awards and titles.
The chemist has repeatedly become an honorary member of various scientific societies both in Russia and abroad.
Personal life
In his youth, Dmitry met with a girl Sophia, whom he had known since childhood. Later, the young people decided to get married, but shortly before the wedding ceremony, the girl refused to go down the aisle. The bride felt that it was not worth changing anything in life if she was already beautiful.
Later Mendeleev began to look after Feozva Leshcheva, with whom he had also known since childhood. As a result, the couple got married in 1862, and the next year they had a girl named Maria.
After that, they still had a son, Vladimir, and a daughter, Olga.
Dmitry Mendeleev loved children, however, due to his heavy workload, he could not devote much time to them. It is worth noting that this marriage was hardly a happy one.
In 1876 Mendeleev became interested in Anna Popova. At that time, the man was already 42 years old, while his lover was barely 16 years old. The chemist met the girl during the next "youth Friday", which he arranged in his house.
An interesting fact is that such Friday meetings were often attended by many celebrities, including Ilya Repin, Arkhip Kuindzhi, Ivan Shishkin and other cultural figures.
Dmitry and Anna legalized their relationship in 1881. In this marriage, they had a girl, Lyubov, a boy, Ivan, and twins, Vasily and Maria. Together with his second wife, Mendeleev finally learned all the delights of married life.
Later, the poet Alexander Blok became Mendeleev's son-in-law, who married his daughter Lyubov.
Death
In the winter of 1907, during a business meeting with the Minister of Industry, Dmitry Filosofov, Mendeleev caught a bad cold. Soon the cold developed into pneumonia, which caused the death of the great Russian scientist.
Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev died on January 20 (February 2) 1907 at the age of 72 years.
Dozens of years after the death of the chemist, a new element at number 101 appeared in the periodic table, named after him - Mendelevium (Md).
