Mendeleev D.I., (1834-1907), chemist

Categories / Science. Education/Personalia
MENDELEEV Dmitry Ivanovich (1834-1907, St. Petersburg), chemist, teacher and public figure, Associate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1876). Graduated from the Main Pedagogical Institute of St. Petersburg in 1855. Taught at the University of St. Petersburg from 1857 to 1890, assuming professorship in 1865. Simultaneously, from 1861 to 1864, he held a teaching post at the Institute for Railroad Engineering, which he exchanged for a job at the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, where he worked from 1863 to 1872. In 1880, Mendeleev was nominated for election into the Academy of Sciences, but was rejected, arousing strong societal disapproval. In 1890, Mendeleev, already a recognised scholar by the time, resigned from the University of St. Petersburg as a sign of protest against student oppression. Instead, he set up the Chief Board of Weights and Measures, of which he became the first director in 1893 (presently the Mendeleev National Science Centre of the All-Russian Scientific Research Metrology Institute). He was also one of the founders of the Russian Chemical Society (1868; present-day the Mendeleev All-Russian Chemical Society). In 1869, he made his most renowned contribution to science by postulating the Periodic Law, named after him, and working out the periodic table of elements on the basis of this law. His main work focused on various scientific issues, including chemistry, chemical engineering, physics, metrology, aeronautics, meteorology, agriculture, economics and public education. He was also involved in the development of Russian industrial production, settling in Siberia, and mastering the Northern Sea Route. A permanent member of the Council of the Academy of Arts (1894). Mendeleev was buried at Literatorskie Mostky. Element 101 on his periodic table, mendelevium, was named after him. The Mendeleev Congresses on General and Applied Chemistry was established as a tribute to his work. In 1934, the Academy of Sciences of the USSR instituted the Mendeleev Prize, now called the Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The main building of the St. Petersburg State University, which is also his former residence, now houses the Mendeleev Archives Museum. In 1913, Mendeleev's name was given to a street, called Mendeleevskaya Street, in the Kalininsky District, and ten years later to one of the lines on Vasilievsky Island (formerly Universitetskaya Line). The St. Petersburg Economical and Technological College is also named after Mendeleev. The scientist was additionally immortalised in a number of monuments, in the yard of the Technological Institute (26 Moskovsky Avenue; 1928, sculptor M.G. Manizer); in the garden of his residence from 1893 to 1907 (19 Moskovsky Avenue; 1932, sculptor I.Y. Ginzburg; memorial plaque installed); and in the garden of the Institute of Experimental Medicine (12 Akademika Pavlova Street; 1935, architect artist I.F. Bespalov). Memorial plaques in honour of Mendeleev have also been installed on the buildings of the Institute for Railroad Engineering (9 Moskovsky Avenue), the St. Petersburg State University, and the National Science Centre of the All-Russian Scientific Research Metrology Institute.

References: Макареня А. А., Нутрихин А. И. Менделеев в Петербурге. Л., 1982; Летопись жизни и деятельности Д. И. Менделеева. Л., 1984.

O. N. Ansberg. Bespalov I.F. (see Bezpalov I.F.)
Ginzburg Ilya Yakovlevich
Manizer Matvey Genrikhovich
Mendeleev Dmitry Ivanovich
Akademika Pavlova St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 12
Mendeleevskaya Line/Saint Petersburg, city
Mendeleevskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 26
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 9
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 19
Макареня А. А., Нутрихин А. И. Менделеев в Петербурге. Л., 1982
Летопись жизни и деятельности Д. И. Менделеева. Л., 1984 Russian Academy of Sciences
Main Pedagogical Institute
State University, St. Petersburg
State Institute of Technology, St. Petersburg
Mendeleev Metrology Institute
Literatorskie (Literary) Mostki, the museum-necropolis
Mendeleev Museum Archive
1869
1893
1907