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Dmitri Mendeleev
DIMendeleevCab.jpg
Mendeleev in 1897
Born
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev

(1834-02-08)8 February 1834
Verkhnie Aremzyani, Tobolsk Governorate, Russian Empire
Died 2 February 1907(1907-02-02) (aged 72)
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Alma mater Saint Petersburg University
Known for Formulating the periodic table of chemical elements
Spouse(s)
Feozva Nikitichna Leshcheva
(m. 1862; div. 1882)
Anna Ivanovna Popova
(m. 1882)
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Academic advisors Gustav Kirchhoff
Signature
Mendelejew signature.jpg

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (sometimes transliterated as Mendeleyev, Mendeleiev, or Mendeleef) (8 February [O.S. 27 January] 1834 – 2 February [O.S. 20 January] 1907) was a Russian chemist and inventor.

He is best known as the Father of the Periodic Table.

Early life

Portraits of Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleeva and Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev (c. early 19th century)

Dmitri Mendeleev was born in Verkhnie Aremzyani, near Tobolsk, Siberia, to Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev and Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleeva (née Kornilieva). His father was a school principal and teacher, while his mother came from a prominent merchant family.

When his father became blind and lost his teaching position, his mother had to provide for the family. In 1849, his mother took Mendeleev across Russia from Siberia to Moscow with the aim of getting Mendeleev enrolled at the Moscow University. The university in Moscow did not accept him. The mother and son continued to Saint Petersburg to the father's alma mater. The now poor Mendeleev family relocated to Saint Petersburg, where he entered the Main Pedagogical Institute in 1850. After graduation, he contracted tuberculosis, causing him to move to the Crimean Peninsula on the northern coast of the Black Sea in 1855. While there, he became a science master of the 1st Simferopol Gymnasium. In 1857, he returned to Saint Petersburg with fully restored health.

Between 1859 and 1861, he worked on the capillarity of liquids and the workings of the spectroscope in Heidelberg. Later in 1861, he published a textbook named Organic Chemistry. This won him the Demidov Prize of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Mendeleev became a professor at the Saint Petersburg Technological Institute and Saint Petersburg State University in 1864, and 1865, respectively. In 1865, he became a Doctor of Science. He achieved tenure in 1867 at St. Petersburg University and started to teach inorganic chemistry while succeeding Voskresenskii to this post; by 1871, he had transformed Saint Petersburg into an internationally recognized center for chemistry research.

Periodic table

Mendelejevs periodiska system 1871
Mendeleev's 1871 periodic table
Periodic table monument
Sculpture in honor of Mendeleev and the periodic table, located in Bratislava, Slovakia

In 1863, there were 56 known elements with a new element being discovered at a rate of approximately one per year.

After becoming a teacher in 1867, Mendeleev wrote Principles of Chemistry (Russian: Основы химии, romanized: Osnovy himii). It became the definitive textbook of its time. It was published in two volumes between 1868 and 1870, and Mendeleev wrote it as he was preparing a textbook for his course. This is when he made his most important discovery.

Unaware of the earlier work on periodic tables going on in the 1860s, he made the following table:

Cl 35.5 K 39 Ca 40
Br 80 Rb 85 Sr 88
I 127 Cs 133 Ba 137

By adding additional elements following this pattern, Mendeleev developed his extended version of the periodic table. On 6 March 1869, he presented it to the Russian Chemical Society. Mendeleev's table described elements according to both atomic weight (now called relative atomic mass) and valence. This presentation stated that

  1. The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weight, exhibit an apparent periodicity of properties.
  2. Elements which are similar regarding their chemical properties either have similar atomic weights (e.g., Pt, Ir, Os) or have their atomic weights increasing regularly (e.g., K, Rb, Cs).
  3. The arrangement of the elements in groups of elements in the order of their atomic weights corresponds to their so-called valencies, as well as, to some extent, to their distinctive chemical properties; as is apparent among other series in that of Li, Be, B, C, N, O, and F.
  4. The elements which are the most widely diffused have small atomic weights.
  5. The magnitude of the atomic weight determines the character of the element, just as the magnitude of the molecule determines the character of a compound body.
  6. We must expect the discovery of many yet unknown elements – for example, two elements, analogous to aluminium and silicon, whose atomic weights would be between 65 and 75.
  7. The atomic weight of an element may sometimes be amended by a knowledge of those of its contiguous elements. Thus the atomic weight of tellurium must lie between 123 and 126, and cannot be 128. (Tellurium's atomic weight is 127.6, and Mendeleev was incorrect in his assumption that atomic weight must increase with position within a period.)
  8. Certain characteristic properties of elements can be foretold from their atomic weights.

Mendeleev published his periodic table of all known elements and predicted several new elements to complete the table. He also proposed changes in the properties of some known elements.

Later life

Dmitri Mendeleev 1890s
Dmitri Mendeleev in the 1890s
Анна Ивановна Менделеева, урождённая Попова
Dmitri Mendeleev's second wife, Anna

Mendeleev resigned from Saint Petersburg University on 17 August 1890. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1892, and in 1893 he was appointed director of the Bureau of Weights and Measures, a post which he occupied until his death.

200 y Anniversary of Berlin Academy 1900
Mendeleev, Alfred Werner, Adolf von Baeyer, and other prominent chemists

Personal life

On 4 April 1862, Mendeleev became engaged to Feozva Nikitichna Leshcheva. The couple married on 27 April 1862.

In 1876, he became obsessed with Anna Ivanova Popova; in 1881 he proposed to her. His divorce from Leshcheva was finalized one month after he had married Popova (on 2 April) in early 1882. His daughter from his second marriage, Lyubov, became the wife of the famous Russian poet Alexander Blok. His other children were son Vladimir (a sailor, he took part in the notable Eastern journey of Nicholas II) and daughter Olga, from his first marriage to Feozva, and son Ivan and twins from Anna.

Activities beyond chemistry

Kramskoy Mendeleev 01
Portrait of Dmitri Mendeleev by Ivan Kramskoi (1878)
Mendeleyev gold Barry Kent
Mendeleev Medal

Beginning in the 1870s, he published widely beyond chemistry. He explored demographic issues, sponsored studies of the Arctic Sea, tried to measure the efficacy of chemical fertilizers, and promoted the merchant navy. He was especially active in improving the Russian petroleum industry.

Death

In 1907, Mendeleev died at the age of 72 in Saint Petersburg from influenza. His last words were to his physician: "Doctor, you have science, I have faith," which is possibly a Jules Verne quote.

Interesting facts about Dmitri Mendeleev

  • Mendelevium, which is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Md (formerly Mv) and the atomic number 101, was named after Mendeleev.
  • A large lunar impact crater Mendeleev, that is located on the far side of the Moon, also bears the name of the scientist.
  • In 1906 and 1907, the Nobel Committee for Chemistry recommended to the Swedish Academy to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Mendeleev for his discovery of the periodic system. However, the majority of the Academy chose Henri Moissan over Mendeleev.
  • Mendeleev is given credit for the introduction of the metric system to the Russian Empire.
  • He also investigated the composition of petroleum, and helped to found the first oil refinery in Russia.

Commemoration

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Bust of Mendeleev in the city of Mendeleyevsk, Tatarstan

In Saint Petersburg his name was given to D. I. Mendeleev Institute for Metrology, the National Metrology Institute, dealing with establishing and supporting national and worldwide standards for precise measurements. Next to it there is a monument to him that consists of his sitting statue and a depiction of his periodic table on the wall of the establishment.

In the Twelve Collegia building, now being the centre of Saint Petersburg State University and in Mendeleev's time – Head Pedagogical Institute – there is Dmitry Mendeleev's Memorial Museum Apartment with his archives. The street in front of these is named after him as Mendeleevskaya liniya (Mendeleev Line).

In Moscow, there is the D. Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology of Russia.

The mineral mendeleevite-Ce, Cs6(Ce22Ca6)(Si70O175)(OH,F)14(H2O)21, was named in Mendeleev's honor in 2010. The related species mendeleevite-Nd, Cs6[(Nd,REE)23Ca7](Si70O175)(OH,F)19(H2O)16, was described in 2015.

The Russian Academy of Sciences has occasionally awarded a Mendeleev Golden Medal since 1965.

On 8 February 2016, Google celebrated Dmitri Mendeleev’s 182nd Birthday with a doodle.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Dmitri Mendeléyev para niños

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