Dmitri Mendeleev
Dmitri Mendeleev.Today(8th February,2016) is his 182nd birthday, thanks to Google that I came to know about it. Mr. Mendeleev was responsible for my less marks in chemistry. He made Periodic table, and that was difficult for me to memorize. But his contribution in the world of sciences cannot be ignored because of my marks. So this post is in honor of the great scientist that helped chemistry prosper.
Early Life
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev was born on February 8, 1834 in Verkhnie Aremzyani, in the Russian province of Siberia. He had a big family with many siblings. His father was a teacher.
Unfortunately, when his father went blind, his mother opened a glass factory in order to sustain family.
This also didn’t work and factory had to be closed. He was 15 at that time and had already lost his father. Mendeleev got a place where his father worked and was trained as a teacher.
This was the inception of his love for sciences. He began to publish research papers and despite being suffering from tuberculosis, he came out to be the best student in class.His love for chemistry only got further with this.
Chemistry and periodic table
Unfortunately, when his father went blind, his mother opened a glass factory in order to sustain family.
This also didn’t work and factory had to be closed. He was 15 at that time and had already lost his father. Mendeleev got a place where his father worked and was trained as a teacher.
This was the inception of his love for sciences. He began to publish research papers and despite being suffering from tuberculosis, he came out to be the best student in class.His love for chemistry only got further with this.
Chemistry and periodic table
Mendeleev had been trained both as a teacher and a chemist. He had a good fortune at Heidelberg, Germany where he discovered cesium using chemical electroscopy.
In 1860, Mendeleev attended the first ever international chemistry conference, which took place in Karlsruhe, Germany. Much of talks were related to standardizing chemistry and its elements. This conference helped him to dig deeper in this area. At the conference, he also learned about Avogardo’s Law which states that:
After that he came back to Saint Petersburg, and felt the need for advancement of chemistry there. He felt that Germany was much more advanced in science than Russia. In order to bring chemistry at the forefront in Russia as well, he, in just 61 days poured out his knowledge in a 500 page book called Organic Chemistry. Prior to this there were no significant chemistry books in Russian language. This firmed his position in Russia, as the pioneer in the world of chemistry.
But in the world, chemistry was still a field of discovery and patchworks. There was nothing that could bring it under some principles. This triggered the idea of periodic table.
Mendeleev used cards and wrote elements name and their properties on it. Obsessed with it, he arranged cards under various combinations to generalize them. He got the idea that atomic weight is the reason but could not find the pattern. Hours after hours, after arranging the cards, he finally came up with a pattern. At that time only 65 elements were discovered. There were numerous gaps and thus he was certain that some elements were yet to be discovered. In some cases, where the properties of elements were not matching his predictions, he proposed that may be, this was because of inaccurate atomic weights of elements. By this time, his periodic table was referenced by researchers while discovering new elements.
There were numerous periodic table that came before and after Mendeleev’s but he came out to be the leader of the pack.
In 1905, the British Royal Society gave him its highest honor, the Copley Medal, and in the same year he was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Element 101 is named Mendelevium in his honor.
Dmitri Mendeleev died in Saint Petersburg, February 2, 1907, six days before his 73rd birthday. He was killed by influenza.
All gases, at the same volume, temperature and pressure, contain the same number of molecules.
After that he came back to Saint Petersburg, and felt the need for advancement of chemistry there. He felt that Germany was much more advanced in science than Russia. In order to bring chemistry at the forefront in Russia as well, he, in just 61 days poured out his knowledge in a 500 page book called Organic Chemistry. Prior to this there were no significant chemistry books in Russian language. This firmed his position in Russia, as the pioneer in the world of chemistry.
But in the world, chemistry was still a field of discovery and patchworks. There was nothing that could bring it under some principles. This triggered the idea of periodic table.
Mendeleev used cards and wrote elements name and their properties on it. Obsessed with it, he arranged cards under various combinations to generalize them. He got the idea that atomic weight is the reason but could not find the pattern. Hours after hours, after arranging the cards, he finally came up with a pattern. At that time only 65 elements were discovered. There were numerous gaps and thus he was certain that some elements were yet to be discovered. In some cases, where the properties of elements were not matching his predictions, he proposed that may be, this was because of inaccurate atomic weights of elements. By this time, his periodic table was referenced by researchers while discovering new elements.
There were numerous periodic table that came before and after Mendeleev’s but he came out to be the leader of the pack.
In 1905, the British Royal Society gave him its highest honor, the Copley Medal, and in the same year he was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Element 101 is named Mendelevium in his honor.
Dmitri Mendeleev died in Saint Petersburg, February 2, 1907, six days before his 73rd birthday. He was killed by influenza.
