Dmitri Mendeleev: Father of the Periodic Table

• Dmitri Mendeleev, born between 1834 and 1907, was the creator of the periodic table.
• Mendeleev was a chemistry professor who successfully solved how elements relate.
• His classification system aided new element discoveries and understanding of atomic structure.

Early Life

• Mendeleev was born into a poor Russian family living in Siberia.
• He was the youngest of 14 children
• At 13, his father became blind, and his mother supported the family by running a glass business.
• Two years later, the factory burned down.
• His mother was determined Mendeleev should have a higher education.
• His mother walked and hitchhiked with him across Russia to St. Petersburg.
• His mother died shortly after he enrolled at the university.

Career

• Mendeleev excelled in his studies and became a chemistry professor.
• He was known as an idiosyncratic teacher with a disheveled appearance and fiery temper.
• His career flourished, and his textbook The Principles of Chemistry was published between 1868 and 1870.
• The Principles of Chemistry has since been translated into several languages.
• A key challenge within chemistry at the time was classifying the elements.
• Scientists had identified patterns in element behaviors, such as violent reactions or a lack of reactivity.
• Mendeleev wrestled with how all the elements fit together.
• Inspiration on how to classify elements came after he fell asleep at his desk.

Milestones

• At the first-ever international chemistry conference in 1860, the standardization of chemistry was discussed.
• Mendeleev devised his periodic table of elements in a grid pattern in 1869.
• In 1879, he conducted petroleum research which establishing the first Russian oil refinery.
• In 1905, he received the Copley Medal and was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
• Mendeleev was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1906 but was rejected, potentially due to a personal grudge.