What discoveries did Mendeleev make? Dmitry Mendeleev interesting facts

"In total, more than four subjects made up my name: the periodic law, the study of elasticity gases, understanding solutions as associations and "Fundamentals of Chemistry"

D. I Mendeleev

Based on these observations, Dmitry Ivanovich formulated the Periodic Law: “The properties of the elements, and therefore the simple and complex bodies (substances) formed by them, are periodically dependent (i.e., repeated correctly) on their atomic weight.”Mendeleev's discovery of the Periodic Law dates back to February 17 (March 1 - new style) 1869, when he compiled a table entitled "Experience of a system of elements based on their atomic weight and chemical similarity."

They say that Mendeleev dreamed of the periodic table in a dream. The scientist himself, when asked how he discovered the periodic table, answered: “I’ve been thinking about it for maybe twenty years, but you think: I was sitting there and suddenly... it’s ready.”

Over the next two years, the scientist compiled several more versions of the periodic table and, on its basis, corrected the values ​​of the atomic masses of 9 elements (beryllium, indium, uranium and others). In 1870, Mendeleev predicted the existence and properties of three then unknown chemical elements, and later eight more, leaving empty cells for them in his Periodic Table.At first, the system itself, the corrections made and Mendeleev’s forecasts were met with rather restraint by domestic and foreign scientists. But by the mid-80s of the 19th century, after the discovery of the elements predicted by the scientist (gallium - Mendeleev’s “eka-aluminium”, scandium - “ekabor”, germanium - “ekasilicon”), the Periodic Law finally received well-deserved recognition and entered the arsenal science as one of the most important laws of nature.

Until the end of his life, Dmitry Ivanovich continued to develop and improve the doctrine of periodicity, considering the main flaw of the periodic law and the periodic system to be the lack of a strict physical explanation. However, the scientist firmly believed, “The future does not threaten the periodic law with destruction, but only promises development and superstructures.”The words of the great scientist found brilliant confirmation after his death. The revolutionary discoveries of the 20th century in the field of quantum and atomic physics gave a new impetus to the development of the theory of the periodic table and further intensive scientific research in the field of studying the structure of matter.

Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev is a Russian scientist, a brilliant chemist, physicist, researcher in the field of metrology, hydrodynamics, geology, a deep expert in industry, instrument maker, economist, aeronaut, teacher, public figure and original thinker.

Childhood and youth

The great scientist was born in 1834, on February 8, in Tobolsk. Father Ivan Pavlovich was the director of district schools and the Tobolsk gymnasium, descended from the family of priest Pavel Maksimovich Sokolov, Russian by nationality.

Ivan changed his last name in childhood, while a student at the Tver Seminary. Presumably, this was done in honor of his godfather, the landowner Mendeleev. Later, the question of the nationality of the scientist’s surname was repeatedly raised. According to some sources, she testified to Jewish roots, according to others, to German ones. Dmitry Mendeleev himself said that his last name was assigned to Ivan by his teacher from the seminary. The young man made a successful exchange and thereby became famous among his classmates. With two words - “to do” - Ivan Pavlovich was included in the educational record.

Mother Maria Dmitrievna (nee Kornilieva) was involved in raising children and housekeeping, and had a reputation as an intelligent and smart woman. Dmitry was the youngest in the family, the last of fourteen children (according to other information, the last of seventeen children). At the age of 10, the boy lost his father, who became blind and soon died.

While studying at the gymnasium, Dmitry did not show any abilities; Latin was the most difficult for him. His mother instilled a love for science, and she also participated in the formation of his character. Maria Dmitrievna took her son to study in St. Petersburg.

In 1850, in St. Petersburg, the young man entered the Main Pedagogical Institute at the department of natural sciences, physics and mathematics. His teachers were professors E. H. Lenz, A. A. Voskresensky and N. V. Ostrogradsky.

While studying at the institute (1850-1855), Mendeleev demonstrated extraordinary abilities. As a student, he published an article “On Isomorphism” and a series of chemical analyzes.

The science

In 1855, Dmitry received a diploma with a gold medal and a referral to Simferopol. Here he works as a senior teacher at the gymnasium. With the outbreak of the Crimean War, Mendeleev moved to Odessa and received a teaching position at the Lyceum.

In 1856 he was again in St. Petersburg. He studies at the university, defends his dissertation, teaches chemistry. In the fall, he defends another dissertation and is appointed as a private assistant professor at the university.

In 1859, Mendeleev was sent on a business trip to Germany. Works at the University of Heidelberg, sets up a laboratory, studies capillary liquids. Here he wrote articles “On the temperature of absolute boiling” and “On the expansion of liquids”, and discovered the phenomenon of “critical temperature”.

In 1861, the scientist returned to St. Petersburg. He creates the textbook “Organic Chemistry”, for which he was awarded the Demidov Prize. In 1864 he was already a professor, and two years later he headed the department, teaching and working on the “Fundamentals of Chemistry.”

In 1869, he introduced the periodic system of elements, to the improvement of which he devoted his entire life. In the table, Mendeleev presented the atomic masses of nine elements, later adding a group of noble gases to the table and leaving room for elements that had yet to be discovered. In the 90s, Dmitry Mendeleev contributed to the discovery of the phenomenon of radioactivity. The periodic law included evidence of the connection between the properties of elements and their atomic volume. Now next to each table of chemical elements there is a photo of the discoverer.

In 1865–1887 he developed the hydration theory of solutions. In 1872 he began to study the elasticity of gases, and two years later he derived the ideal gas equation. Among Mendeleev's achievements of this period was the creation of a scheme for fractional distillation of petroleum products, the use of tanks and pipelines. With the assistance of Dmitry Ivanovich, the burning of black gold in furnaces completely stopped. The scientist’s phrase “Burning oil is like burning a stove with banknotes” has become an aphorism.

Another area of ​​activity of the scientist was geographical research. In 1875, Dmitry Ivanovich attended the Paris International Geographical Congress, where he presented his invention - a differential barometer-altimeter. In 1887, the scientist took part in a balloon trip into the upper atmosphere to observe a total solar eclipse.

In 1890, a quarrel with a high-ranking official caused Mendeleev to leave the university. In 1892, a chemist invents a method for producing smokeless gunpowder. At the same time, he is appointed keeper of the Depot of Exemplary Weights and Measures. Here he renews the prototypes of the pound and arshin, and makes calculations comparing Russian and English standards of measures.

On the initiative of Mendeleev, in 1899 the metric system of measures was optionally introduced. In 1905, 1906 and 1907, the scientist was nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Prize. In 1906, the Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Mendeleev, but the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences did not confirm this decision.

Mendeleev, who was the author of more than one and a half thousand works, had enormous scientific authority in the world. For his services, the scientist was awarded numerous scientific titles, Russian and foreign awards, and was an honorary member of a number of scientific societies at home and abroad.

Personal life

In his youth, an unpleasant incident happened to Dmitry. His courtship with the girl Sonya, whom he had known since childhood, ended in an engagement. But the pampered beauty never went to the crown. On the eve of the wedding, when preparations were already in full swing, Sonechka refused to get married. The girl thought that there was no point in changing anything if life was already good.

Dmitry was painfully worried about the breakup with his fiancée, but life went on as usual. He was distracted from his heavy thoughts by a trip abroad, lecturing and loyal friends. Having renewed his relationship with Feozva Nikitichnaya Leshcheva, whom he had known previously, he began dating her. The girl was 6 years older than Dmitry, but looked young, so the age difference was unnoticeable.

In 1862 they became husband and wife. The first daughter Masha was born in 1863, but lived only a few months. In 1865, a son, Volodya, was born, and three years later, a daughter, Olya. Dmitry Ivanovich was attached to children, but devoted little time to them, since his life was devoted to scientific activity. In a marriage concluded on the principle of “endure and fall in love,” he was not happy.

In 1877, Dmitry met Anna Ivanovna Popova, who became for him a person capable of supporting him with a smart word in difficult times. The girl turned out to be a creatively gifted person: she studied piano at the conservatory, and later at the Academy of Arts.

Dmitry Ivanovich hosted youth “Fridays”, where he met Anna. “Fridays” were transformed into literary and artistic “environments”, the regulars of which were talented artists and professors. Among them were Nikolai Wagner, Nikolai Beketov and others.

The marriage of Dmitry and Anna took place in 1881. Soon their daughter Lyuba was born, son Ivan appeared in 1883, twins Vasily and Maria - in 1886. In his second marriage, the scientist’s personal life was happy. Later, the poet became Dmitry Ivanovich's son-in-law, having married the daughter of the scientist Lyubov.

Death

At the beginning of 1907, a meeting between Dmitry Mendeleev and the new Minister of Industry Dmitry Filosofov took place in the Chamber of Weights and Measures. After touring the ward, the scientist fell ill with a cold, which caused pneumonia. But even being very ill, Dmitry continued to work on the manuscript “Towards the Knowledge of Russia”, the last words he wrote in which were the phrase:

“In conclusion, I consider it necessary, at least in the most general terms, to express...”

Death occurred at five o'clock in the morning on February 2 due to cardiac paralysis. The grave of Dmitry Mendeleev is located at the Volkov cemetery in St. Petersburg.

The memory of Dmitry Mendeleev is immortalized by a number of monuments, documentaries, and the book “Dmitry Mendeleev. The author of the great law."

• Many interesting biographical facts are associated with the name of Dmitry Mendeleev. In addition to his activities as a scientist, Dmitry Ivanovich was engaged in industrial exploration. In the 70s, the oil industry began to flourish in the United States, and technologies appeared that made the production of petroleum products cheaper. Russian manufacturers began to suffer losses in the international market due to their inability to compete on price.
• In 1876, at the request of the Russian Ministry of Finance and the Russian Technical Society, which collaborated with the military department, Mendeleev went overseas to an exhibition of technical innovations. On site, the chemist learned innovative principles for making kerosene and other petroleum products. And using commissioned reports from European railway services, Dmitry Ivanovich tried to decipher the method of making smokeless gunpowder, which he succeeded in doing.

• Mendeleev had a hobby - making suitcases. The scientist sewed his own clothes.
• The scientist is credited with the invention of vodka and the moonshine still. But in fact, Dmitry Ivanovich, in the topic of his doctoral dissertation “Discourse on the combination of alcohol with water,” studied the issue of reducing the volume of mixed liquids. There was not a word about vodka in the scientist’s work. And the standard of 40° was established in Tsarist Russia back in 1843.
• He came up with pressurized compartments for passengers and pilots.
• There is a legend that the discovery of Mendeleev’s periodic system happened in a dream, but this is a myth created by the scientist himself.
• He rolled his own cigarettes using expensive tobacco. He said that he would never quit smoking.

Discoveries

• He created a controlled balloon, which became an invaluable contribution to aeronautics.
• He developed a periodic table of chemical elements, which became a graphic expression of the law established by Mendeleev during his work on the “Fundamentals of Chemistry”.
• He created a pycnometer, a device capable of determining the density of a liquid.
• Discovered the critical boiling point of liquids.
• Created an equation of state for an ideal gas, establishing the relationship between the absolute temperature of an ideal gas, pressure and molar volume.
• He opened the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures - the central institution of the Ministry of Finance, which was in charge of the verification department of the Russian Empire, subordinate to the trade department.

Place of Birth: Tobolsk

Family status: married twice. The first wife is Feozva Nikitichna Lescheva (1862-1880). Second wife - Anna Ivanovna Popova (1882-1907).

Activities and interests: chemistry, technology, economics, metrology, agrochemistry and agriculture, education, physical chemistry, solid state chemistry, theory of solutions, physics of liquids and gases, oil technology, instrument making, meteorology, aeronautics, shipbuilding, exploration of the Far North, pedagogy, bookbinding, cardboard works

He studied in Bonn with the “famous glass maestro” Gessler, who created Mendeleev’s thermometers and instruments for measuring specific gravity. More facts

Education, degrees and titles

1847-1849, Tobolsk men's gymnasium

1876, Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences: corresponding member

Job

1855, Simferopol men's gymnasium: senior teacher of natural sciences

1903, Kiev Polytechnic Institute: Chairman of the State Examination Commission

Discoveries

While working on the work “Fundamentals of Chemistry”, D.I. In February 1869, Mendeleev discovered one of the fundamental laws of nature - the periodic law of chemical elements, which allows not only to accurately determine many properties of already known elements, but also to predict the properties of those not yet discovered. While working on the periodic table, Mendeleev clarified the values ​​of the atomic masses of nine elements, and also predicted the existence, atomic masses and properties of a number of elements discovered later (gallium, scandium, germanium, polonium, astatine, technetium and francium). Supplemented the table with group zero noble gases in 1900. In the 1850s, he studied the phenomena of isomorphism, which demonstrate the interdependence of the crystalline form and chemical composition of compounds, as well as the dependence of the properties of elements on their atomic volumes.

In 1859, Mendeleev designed a device for determining the density of liquids - a pycnometer.

In 1860, he discovered the absolute boiling point of liquids - the critical temperature at which the density and pressure of saturated vapor are maximum, and the density of the liquid in dynamic equilibrium with steam is minimum.

Biography

Russian scientist-encyclopedist, author of fundamental works on chemistry, physics, chemical technology, metrology, aeronautics, meteorology, agriculture, economics, etc. Mendeleev's most famous discovery is the fundamental law of nature, the periodic law of chemical elements.

He himself believed that his name was made up of “more than four subjects in total... the periodic law, the study of the elasticity of gases, the understanding of solutions as associations and the “Fundamentals of Chemistry.” The periodic law was discovered by him during his work on the “Fundamentals of Chemistry”. He studied solutions all his life, gradually comprehending the nature of the chemical compound as such, and the Clapeyron-Mendeleev equation (the general equation of state of an ideal gas) is an important formula that establishes the relationship between pressure, molar volume and absolute temperature of an ideal gas.

Throughout his life, he regularly participated in industrial enterprises, where theoretical scientific problems had more of an applied significance. In addition, he was interested in very diverse areas of activity, including aeronautics, shipbuilding and the development of the Far North.

Mendeleev is the author of more than one and a half thousand works, including the classic “Fundamentals of Chemistry,” the first systematic presentation of inorganic chemistry (1869-1871). He enjoyed enormous scientific prestige throughout the world and was awarded many awards - Russian and foreign orders and medals, honorary membership in various Russian and foreign scientific societies, numerous scientific titles, etc.

According to surveys of authoritative foreign experts, D.I. Mendeleev was recognized as the most remarkable scientist of the 19th century. His work was extremely fruitful in various fields of industry and transport, geophysics and hydrodynamics, military affairs and aeronautics, education and agriculture, as well as in economics, sociology, demography... and even art.
Who is he - a scientist, a creator, one of the last encyclopedists in science.

Here are some details from his rich biography:

Dmitry was born in 1834 in Tobolsk and was the seventeenth child in the family. In the year of his birth, his father went blind and retired. On his father’s side, Dmitry Ivanovich was involved in the intellectual part of Russian society: his grandfather was a rural priest, his father was a gymnasium teacher who taught philosophy, fine arts, political economy, logic, and Russian literature. On his mother’s side there were “business people” in his family - the Kornilov merchants.

Little Mitya showed an early ability for arithmetic, had quick wits and a good memory. He graduated from high school early, at the age of 15. Due to the death of their father, the family moved to Moscow to live with their brother. However, students from the Tobolsk gymnasium were not accepted into Moscow University; Dmitry had to enroll in the St. Petersburg Main Pedagogical Institute. In the fall of 1850, his mother died, and soon his brother, who helped Dmitry financially, died. My older sister died of tuberculosis. His own throat would sometimes bleed. He spent a long time in the hospital. The doctor once, thinking that the patient was sleeping, said: “This one won’t get up.” All this could unsettle another young man and plunge him into despair. This did not happen with Mendeleev. He graduated from the institute with a gold medal. And he published his first major scientific work on the theory of aqueous solutions. Mendeleev never limited his mental horizons to a narrow area of ​​special research. Already at the institute, despite his poor health, he seriously studied mathematics, physics and biology, while at the same time attending lectures at the Faculty of History and Philology.

After graduating from the institute, he worked as a teacher in Simferopol, then in Odessa. In 1856 he became a private assistant professor at St. Petersburg University. He is sent for a scientific internship abroad. He meets famous chemists, studied with them, worked in the laboratory, conducted independent research, and participated in the First International Congress of Chemists in 1860. A year later, back in Russia, he wrote an excellent textbook “Organic Chemistry”, for which he received the first Demidov Prize. Soon Dmitry Ivanovich becomes a professor of chemistry at the Institute of Technology and defends his doctoral dissertation on aqueous-alcohol solutions (which aroused genuine public interest). At the invitation of one of the oil industrialists, he visited the Baku oil fields and sent research on oil as a raw material for the chemical industry (as you know, he considered the write-off of oil products to be the stupidest theft of natural resources). He developed the idea of ​​underground gasification of coal, actively advocated the development of the factory industry and was elected an honorary member of the Council of Trade and Manufactures under the Ministry of Finance. Since 1893, Dmitry Ivanovich was appointed manager of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures. By this time he had invented smokeless gunpowder. He considered an equally important event the completion of his work on the book “The Intelligible Tariff,” in which he proposed measures to protect Russian industry from Western monopolies, which had considerable advantages in the competitive struggle.
He was already recognized as a genius during his lifetime. He joked: “Genius? What kind of genius is that? He worked all his life, that’s a genius!” Here are a few more of his sincere statements: “Be proud only of what is done for others... The main secret of life is this: one person is zero, together only people” and the second: “Acquire the main wealth - the ability to conquer yourself.”

Over the past year, an important event occurred related to the name of D.I. Mendeleev: The President of the Russian Federation V. Putin signed the Decree “On the celebration of the 175th anniversary of the birth of D.I. Mendeleev.” This once again indicates the enormous contribution of a world-famous scientist to the development of domestic science and public life in Russia.

Main law.
But the law he discovered for Mendeleev was not an accidental result, but the fruit of long reflection and persistent search. It is known that Dmitry Ivanovich himself gave rise to the story about the discovery made: “I began to select, writing on separate cards the elements with their atomic weights and fundamental properties, which quickly led me to the conclusion that the properties of the elements are periodically dependent on their atomic weight". However, Mendeleev discovered the law not because he played “chemical solitaire”; he “played it” because he was looking for the law. The scientist was convinced that the law existed and knew where and how to look for it. That is why, when starting his search, he wrote down on cards, following the name of the chemical element, its atomic weight and valency. This periodic repetition of the properties of atoms in the natural sequence of elements is one of the most important laws of nature. Mendeleev called his law periodic and the natural sequence of elements the periodic system of elements. Mendeleev was not only the first to precisely formulate this law and present its content in the form of a table, which became classic, but also comprehensively substantiated it, showed its enormous scientific significance, as a guiding classification principle and as a powerful tool for scientific research. The law discovered by Mendeleev made it possible not only to take a new approach to the study of known chemical elements and correct incorrect atomic weights, but also, very importantly, to predict the existence of elements that had not yet been discovered. Mendeleev left empty spaces in his table, marking them with question marks. Moreover, Mendeleev even indicated how one or another of the predicted elements could be discovered. It is especially significant that he himself used the periodic law to correct the atomic weights of certain elements and to predict three new elements, gallium, scandium and germanium, hitherto unknown, with all their properties. All these corrections and predictions came true brilliantly.

Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834-1907) - Russian scientist-encyclopedist. In 1869 he discovered the periodic law of chemical elements - one of the basic laws of natural science. He left over 500 published works, including the classic “Fundamentals of Chemistry” - the first coherent presentation of inorganic chemistry. Also D.I. Mendeleev is the author of fundamental research in physics, metrology, aeronautics, meteorology, agriculture, economics, and public education, closely related to the needs of Russia's economic development. Organizer and first director of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures.

Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev was born on February 8, 1834 in Tobolsk in the family of Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev, who at that time held the position of director of the Tobolsk gymnasium and schools of the Tobolsk district. Dmitry was the last, seventeenth child in the family. In 1841-1849. studied at the Tobolsk gymnasium.

Mendeleev received his higher education at the Department of Natural Sciences of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Main Pedagogical Institute in St. Petersburg, from which he graduated in 1855 with a gold medal. In 1856, he defended his master's thesis at St. Petersburg University and from 1857, as an assistant professor, taught a course in organic chemistry there. In 1859-1861 he was on a scientific trip to Heidelberg, where he became friends with many scientists there, including A.P. Borodin and I.M. Sechenov. There he worked in his small home laboratory, as well as in the laboratory of R. Bunsen at the University of Heidelberg. In 1861 he published the textbook “Organic Chemistry”, which was awarded the Demidov Prize by the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

In 1862, Mendeleev married the stepdaughter of the famous author of “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov, Feozva Nikitichnaya Leshcheva, a native of Tobolsk. In this marriage he had three children, but one daughter died in infancy. In 1865, the scientist acquired the Boblovo estate in the Moscow province, where he was engaged in agrochemistry and agriculture. F.N. Leshcheva and her children lived there most of the time.

In 1864-1866. DI. Mendeleev was a professor at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology. In 1865 he defended his doctoral dissertation “On the combination of alcohol with water” and at the same time was approved as a professor at St. Petersburg University. Mendeleev also taught at other higher educational institutions. He took an active part in public life, speaking in the press with demands for permission to give public lectures, protesting against circulars restricting the rights of students, and discussing a new university charter.

Mendeleev's discovery of the periodic law dates back to March 1, 1869, when he compiled a table entitled "An Experience of a System of Elements Based on Their Atomic Weights and Chemical Similarities." It was the result of many years of searching. He compiled several versions of the periodic system and, on its basis, corrected the atomic weights of some known elements, predicted the existence and properties of still unknown elements. At first, the system itself, the corrections made and Mendeleev’s forecasts were met with restraint. But after the discovery of the elements he predicted (gallium, germanium, scandium), the periodic law began to gain recognition. The periodic table has been a kind of guiding map in the study of inorganic chemistry and in research work in this area.

In 1868, Mendeleev became one of the organizers of the Russian Chemical Society.

At the end of the 1870s. Dmitry Mendeleev fell passionately in love with Anna Ivanovna Popova, the daughter of a Don Cossack from Uryupinsk. In his second marriage, D.I. Mendeleev had four children. DI. Mendeleev was the father-in-law of the Russian poet Alexander Blok, who was married to his daughter Lyubov.

Since 1876, Dmitry Mendeleev was a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences; in 1880 he was nominated as an academician, but was voted out, which caused a sharp public protest.

In 1890, Mendeleev, being a professor at St. Petersburg University, resigned in protest against the oppression of students. Almost forcibly separated from science, Dmitry Mendeleev devoted all his energies to practical problems.

With his participation, in 1890 a draft of a new customs tariff was created, in which a protective system was consistently implemented, and in 1891 a wonderful book was published: “The Intelligible Tariff”, which represents a commentary on this project and at the same time a deeply thought-out overview of the industry , indicating its needs and future prospects. In 1891, the Naval and War Ministries entrusted Mendeleev with the development of the issue of smokeless gunpowder, and he (after a trip abroad) in 1892 brilliantly completed this task. The “pyrocollodium” he proposed turned out to be an excellent type of smokeless gunpowder, moreover, universal and easily adaptable to any firearm.

Since 1891, Mendeleev has been actively involved in the Brockhaus-Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, as the editor of the chemical-technical and factory department and the author of many articles that adorn this publication. In 1900-1902 Dmitry Mendeleev edits the “Library of Industry” (ed. Brockhaus-Efron), where he owns the issue “Teaching of Industry”. Since 1904, “Treasured Thoughts” began to be published - Mendeleev’s historical, philosophical and socio-economic treatise, which contains, as it were, his testament to posterity, the results of what he experienced and changed his mind on various issues relating to the economic, state and social life of Russia.

Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev died on January 20, 1907 from pneumonia. His funeral, at the expense of the state, was a real national mourning. The Department of Chemistry of the Russian Physical-Chemical Society established two prizes in honor of Mendeleev for the best works in chemistry. Mendeleev's library, along with the furnishings of his office, was acquired by Petrograd University and is stored in a special room that once formed part of his apartment.