How many children did Mendeleev have? Which child in the family will be talented or even brilliant? Towards knowledge of Russia

A chemical element, an underwater mountain range, and a crater on the far side of the Moon bear his name. At the same time, when Mendeleev was called a genius, he winced, waved his hands and grumbled: “What a genius! I worked all my life, and that’s why I became a genius.”

He was not only a famous chemist, teacher and aeronaut, who discovered one of the fundamental laws of the universe - the periodic law chemical elements. He was a talented, gifted for prediction, absolutely extraordinary person with a mysterious biography. Mendeleev repeatedly surprised his contemporaries with strange statements and unexpected actions.

Invented the table and... vodka

Dmitry Mendeleev was born on January 27 (February 8), 1834 in Tobolsk. He was the 17th child in the family of the director of the Tobolsk gymnasium. Mendeleev's mother came from an old merchant family and was an energetic and intelligent woman.

Eight of Dmitry's brothers and sisters died in infancy, and his father himself became blind in the year of his birth. The large family lived on his small pension. Due to their difficult financial situation, the Mendeleevs moved to the village of Aremzyanskoye, where their mother’s brother’s small glass factory was located, and lived on meager factory funds. However, despite poverty, the mother, noticing special abilities youngest son, after Mendeleev graduated from the gymnasium, she went with him to St. Petersburg to enroll him in a higher educational institution.

At first, Mendeleev tried to enter the Medical-Surgical Academy, but he was unable to study anatomy. And then in 1850 he entered the Main Pedagogical Institute, where he soon became one of the best. Unfortunately, Dmitry Ivanovich’s health was poor - he was bleeding from his throat. Doctors gave him a fatal diagnosis for those times: consumption. Once in the clinic, during a round, the chief doctor, thinking that Mendeleev had fallen asleep, said: “Well, this one won’t get up again...”

Mendeleev realized that his health was not something to joke about, and, upon leaving the hospital, he made every effort to get an appointment with the court physician Zdekauer. After listening to the young man, he advised him to quickly go to Crimea (where in those days all hopelessly sick people were usually sent), and at the same time see a famous doctor there Pirogov. And Mendeleev immediately left for Simferopol.

There was a war going on in Crimea at that time. Pirogov, rolling up his sleeves, operated from early morning until late evening, performing several dozen amputations a day. Mendeleev came to his hospital every morning, looked into the operating room, but when he saw what the great physician was doing, he immediately left, consoling himself with the fact that now Pirogov was more needed by the wounded than by him. At the same time, Dmitry Ivanovich understood perfectly well that the whole point was his indecision.

In order to somehow kill time and escape from gloomy thoughts, he got a temporary job at a Simferopol gymnasium. (On the facade of the gymnasium there is a memorial plaque telling that Mendeleev worked at the institution, and one of the oldest streets in the city has been named after him since 1905.) But due to the ongoing hostilities, the gymnasium practically did not work. His salary as a teacher was 35 rubles a month, and he had to pay 30 for a room. As a result, Dmitry settled in a barn at the gymnasium archive.

Judging by Mendeleev’s memoirs, he didn’t really like our Simferopol. This is how he described the Crimean capital of that time: “In the city on the streets, in the huge bazaar, in every shop, in every house there is a terrible crush. There are infirmaries everywhere, and our upper floor of the gymnasium is occupied by them... The dust is terrible, so you don’t want to go out, especially since you often hear the smell of infirmaries and smoke...”

After some time, Mendeleev felt much more confident and finally decided to approach Pirogov. Imagine Dmitry’s surprise when the doctor, after carefully examining him, said: “Here, my friend, your Zdekauer’s letter. Save it and return it to him someday. And say hello from me. You will outlive us both." The great surgeon’s prediction came true exactly: Mendeleev outlived both Pirogov and Zdekauer.

Dmitry Ivanovich returned to St. Petersburg with scientific work on the phenomenon of isomorphism, which was recognized as a candidate's dissertation. Then Mendeleev spent two years on internship at various universities in Europe, but he did not like it anywhere. In Heidelberg, he rented a tiny room for a laboratory and finally felt free, independent and even made friends - Ivan Sechenov And Alexandra Borodina. All three were passionate about chemistry; they were even called “the mighty little bunch.” It was here that Mendeleev discovered the absolute boiling point.

After spending happy Days in a circle of like-minded people, in 1862 Mendeleev returned to St. Petersburg, where new discoveries awaited him.

In February 1869, Dmitry Ivanovich discovered the periodic law of chemical elements. There are still many legends surrounding the history of the discovery. Some believe that the scientist saw the system in a dream. In fact, the discovery came as an epiphany. At first, Mendeleev bought about seventy blank business cards and on each he wrote the name of the element on one side, and on the other the atomic weight and formulas of its most important compounds. After that, he sat down at a large square table and began laying out the cards. Then insight came, and the scientist compiled a table, leaving gaps for still undiscovered elements.

At first, the scientific community greeted the Mendeleev system with great reserve. However, over time, the periodic law began to gain more and more recognition. The creation of the theory of atomic structure finally confirmed the correctness of Mendeleev's arrangement of elements.

There are legends that, in addition to the table, the great chemist invented... vodka. In fact, this strong drink has existed for many centuries, and the scientist only calculated the ideal ratio of alcohol to water, that is, the strength of vodka is 38 degrees. But to simplify alcohol tax calculations, officials rounded it up to 40.

Strange hobbies

Mendeleev's range of interests was so wide that he did not limit himself to chemistry. Long before the creation of a hermetic gondola, Mendeleev had the idea of ​​“attaching a hermetically sealed braided elastic device to the balloon to house an observer, who would then be provided with compressed air and could safely control the balloon.”

In 1887, Mendeleev decided to fly in a hot air balloon, and during a solar eclipse. This is how journalist G. Chernechenko describes this incident in one of the newspapers dated August 19, 1999 (the article is called: “Mendeleev in a Balloon”): “In the small picturesque estate of D.I. Mendeleev Boblovo they were preparing to observe in “home” conditions eclipse of the sun. And suddenly, when a little more than a week remained before the eclipse, a telegram arrived from St. Petersburg to Boblovo. In it, the Russian Technical Society informed that a balloon was being equipped in Tver to observe the eclipse and that the council considered it its duty to announce this so that Mendeleev, if he wished, could personally take advantage of the balloon’s rise for scientific observations.”

Actually, neither the flight itself nor the invitation to participate in it was a big surprise for Mendeleev. Only one thing confused the great chemist: a ball filled with illuminating gas (there was no other gas in Tver) could not rise above two miles and, therefore, would remain captive of the clouds. What was needed was a ball filled with light hydrogen. He reported this in an urgent telegram that left Boblov for the capital. The matter was resolved in one day. Already on August 1, Mendeleev knew that the military balloon “Russian” under the command of an experienced aeronaut, Lieutenant Kovanko, was hastily heading to Klin (18 versts from his estate).

At dawn, at 6:25 a.m., applause rang out, and Professor Mendeleev came out of the crowd to the ball. He climbed into the basket, whispered something to his companion Kovanko, and he instantly... jumped out of the basket. The ball slowly went up. The unexpected flight of Mendeleev alone and the disappearance of the ball in the clouds had a very depressing effect on those around him. The painful atmosphere intensified when someone sent an incomprehensible telegram to Klin: “The ball was seen - Mendeleev is not there.”

Meanwhile, the flight was successful. The ball rose to a height of more than three kilometers, broke through the clouds, and Mendeleev managed to observe the total phase of the eclipse. The balloon landed safely in the Kalyazinsky district of the Tver province, where the peasants escorted Mendeleev to a neighboring estate.

The news of the unusually daring flight of the Russian professor soon spread throughout the world. For his courage in flying to observe a solar eclipse, the French Academy of Meteorological Aeronautics awarded Mendeleev a diploma emblazoned with the motto of the Montgolfier brothers: “This is how one goes to the stars.”

Dmitry Ivanovich was also interested in... spiritualism. Or rather, a refutation of it. One of his most interesting works is the study “On Spiritualism.” The fact is that at the end of the 19th century in Western Europe and America there were many fans of spiritualism. And in the mid-1870s, on the initiative of Dmitry Mendeleev, the Russian Physical Society came out with sharp criticism of spiritualism. And on May 6, 1875, it was decided to create a commission to verify all “phenomena.” The result of the commission's activities was the exposure of obvious deception.

Mendeleev himself made scientific predictions. For example, in one of the articles, which was called “The natural system of elements and its application to indicating the properties of undiscovered elements,” he predicted the existence of several then unknown chemical elements, including Eka-Aluminium.

All this was completely confirmed: in 1875, the French naturalist Lecoq de Boisbaudran, while examining zinc blende from Mount Pierfitte in the Pyrenees, discovered a new element in it and determined some of its properties. Like a true Frenchman, he, without hesitation, named the new element gallium (Gallium) in honor of his fatherland - France (lat. Gallia). It never occurred to him to connect his discovery with the prediction of a Russian scientist made four years earlier, especially since, in a hurry to announce the discovery, he in a hurry incorrectly determined the density of the substance.

When the news spread around the scientific world, Mendeleev, who already knew what density the element should have, publicly declared that the Frenchman’s calculations were wrong: “I don’t give a damn what you call it. At least Japan. It's not a matter of authorship. But its density should be five point nine!”

Boisbaudran turned out to be stubborn and insisted that the element he discovered had a density of 4.7. In the end, Mendeleev turned out to be right, and scientists unanimously declared: “Yes, this is really eka-aluminum! That's how it is! But we didn’t believe it!”

Love at first sight

Despite international recognition as a scientist, Mendeleev had almost no friends. He openly clashed with many colleagues. His main enemy was the great Russian writer Lev Tolstoy, who spoke about Mendeleev: “He has a lot of interesting materials, but his conclusions are terribly stupid.” The chemist did not remain in debt and wrote about Tolstoy: “He is a genius, but stupid.”

Mendeleev married Feozva Nikitichna Leshcheva (stepdaughter of the famous author of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov) in 1862. Mendeleev did not know women well at that time and tied the knot on urgent advice older sister Olga. Feozva was an ordinary housewife who wanted her husband to spend all his free time from his main job with her and their son Volodya in household chores. However, Mendeleev was bored.

He began to leave his home on the Boblovo estate more often and stayed longer in St. Petersburg. Once, during another such “escape” at his sister’s house in St. Petersburg, Mendeleev met Anna Ivanovna Popova, the daughter of a Cossack colonel, who had come to St. Petersburg to enter the Academy of Arts. He had never seen anyone like her before: tall, stately, with huge gray eyes and heavy braids... Mendeleev fell passionately in love at first sight. At first, the two met secretly, but over time, rumors reached Anna's father. He demanded that the married Mendeleev no longer seek meetings with his daughter, and sent her to Italy for the whole winter. But Mendeleev came to his beloved in Rome, from where, without saying goodbye to anyone, the lovers fled to Africa, and then to Spain.

The church imposed a ban (penance) on Mendeleev’s marriage, but the Kronstadt priest secretly married Dmitry Ivanovich to Anna Ivanovna. In the end, the first wife nevertheless agreed to the divorce, and the lovers began legal spouses. Anna gave birth to Mendeleev's four children. Subsequently, his daughter Lyubov married Alexander Blok.

In January 1907, Mendeleev caught a bad cold. First, a diagnosis of “dry pleurisy” was made, then doctor Yanovsky found Dmitry Ivanovich to have pneumonia. At 5 o'clock on January 20, the great Russian chemist passed away. He is buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.

YULIA ISRAFILOVA
First Crimean N 474, MAY 17/MAY 23, 2013

Born last, the seventeenth child in the family, he received his first lessons in chemistry by observing the production cycle at the glass factory that his mother managed. Quite a lot is known about the scientific and social achievements of Dmitry Ivanovich. These include fundamental works on chemistry, physics, technological processes, metrology and meteorology, and the opening of higher courses for women in Russia. And the title of the treatise “On the combination of alcohol with water” is known to almost the entire adult population of the country, as is his famous periodic table.

Despite two official marriages and seven children born, in our time no accurate information has reached us about the direct descendants of Dmitry Ivanovich.

First marriage of D.I. Mendeleev

Dmitry Ivanovich and Feozva Nikitichna Mendeleev (Mendeleev's first wife), 1862

Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev was married twice. The first time he married Feozva Nikitichna Leshcheva, the stepdaughter of the storyteller Pyotr Ershov. With his first wife, the famous scientist had three children. The girl Masha was born in 1863 and passed away as a child. Son Volodya was born two years after Masha and died in 1898. Daughter Olga was born in 1868 and died at the age of 82.

The son, Vladimir Dmitrievich, was a naval officer on the frigate “Memory of Azov,” which very often called at the only Japanese port of Nagasaki open to foreigners. In order to prevent Russian sailors from going further than the port, the Japanese built an artificial island and placed restaurants and shops there. And, of course, the most attractive thing for men, they settled Japanese women there. According to the laws of that time, for a certain amount of money, Russian naval officers were allowed to have a contract wife (this custom is well described in V. Pikul’s novel “The Three Ages of Okini-san”). In 1893, on January 28, Vladimir Mendeleev's Japanese contract wife, Taka Hideshima, gave birth to a girl, Ofuji, the Japanese granddaughter of the great chemist. Mendeleev recognized his granddaughter and helped her mother with money. To this day, information about the Japanese descendants of the great scientist has not survived. Presumably, Ofuji and her mother died during the great earthquake. The Russian son of Vladimir Dmitrievich died in childhood, and three years later Vladimir Mendeleev himself died.

Olga lived until 1950. After the revolution, she moved to Moscow, where she served in the canine kennel of the NKVD, as she was fond of breeding purebred dogs. Her only daughter, Natalya, did not survive her mother much, as she suffered from an incurable disease. In 1947, Olga Dmitrievna’s book “Mendeleev and Family” was published.

Mendeleev's second marriage

Anna Ivanovna Popova, Mendeleev's second wife

Register a second marriage with D.I. Mendeleev’s relationship with seventeen-year-old artist Anna Ivanovna Popova did not work out for a long time. She was 26 years younger than the famous chemist, and the scientist had been in love with her since 1878. Having achieved a divorce with difficulty, the scientist was nevertheless punished for divorcing his first wife. According to the instructions of the church, he could not get married officially for several years. And at this time the couple already had their first daughter. However, having persuaded the priest of the Admiralty Church for 10,000 rubles, he was married to the woman he loved in 1881. And the priest, of course, was defrocked for arbitrariness and bribery.

In his second marriage, Dmitry Ivanovich had four children. Twins Vasily and Maria, daughter Lyubov and son Ivan. Reliably information about Maria and Lyubov has reached our days. Maria gave birth to a daughter, Katerina, who has lived to this day and had a son, Alexander Kamensky. Unfortunately, Alexander did not lead a very healthy lifestyle, was convicted twice and disappeared into the vastness of his homeland. In April 2014, they tried unsuccessfully to find him through the “Wait for Me” program.

A. Blok and L. Mendeleev

There is no exact information about Vasily Mendeleev. He was interested in designing tanks and submarines. Due to a conflict with his mother, who did not allow him to meet the girl he liked, he left home. He is believed to have died during a typhoid epidemic in 1922.

Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva was married to the famous poet A. Blok. She had no children by him and died in 1939.

Ivan Dmitrievich Mendeleev (1983-1936) was the only one who was able to demonstrate his talent as a writer, philosopher, and scientist. He died under strange circumstances in the village where the great chemist himself used to live.

D. I. Mendeleev and Agnessa

There are also rumors about the German branch of the great scientist and public figure D.I. Mendeleev. In Germany, he had a stormy and passionate affair with actress Agnes Voigtman. Agnes was by no means a saint and led a free lifestyle. The actress also dated other men during this period. When Agnes gave birth to a girl, strongly doubting her paternity, Mendeleev nevertheless supported the child’s mother for all eighteen years, until his daughter’s marriage. The descendants of this branch of history are still unknown.

Maybe time will pass, and the great-great-grandchildren of the great chemist will respond in Japan or Germany.

“Nature rests on the children of geniuses” - this common slogan in no way applies to the children of Mendeleev. There were seven of them - three sons and four daughters. The first-born, Masha, did not live even six months (she died in September 1863). Mendeleev's children received a more or less good education and left a small, but still quite visible mark on Russian history.

Dmitry Ivanovich was married twice. In 1862 he married Feozva Nikitichnaya Leshcheva, a native of Tobolsk (and therefore a fellow countrywoman). The stepdaughter of the famous author of "The Little Humpbacked Horse" Pyotr Petrovich Ershov, Fiza (that was her name in the family), was six years older. By character, inclinations, habits, interests, she did not make a harmonious couple for her husband. But who has the right to condemn the choice of Dmitry Ivanovich, especially since this act was determined by the specific life circumstances of the aspiring scientist.

Not surprisingly, tensions in their relationship grew over the years. Mendeleev increasingly felt dissatisfied; Feozva Nikitichna pestered her husband with constant reproaches. These people were too different. Ultimately, in 1881, the marriage was dissolved. But for the rest of their lives they maintained good relations.

At the end of 1870 Mendeleev fell passionately in love with Anna Ivanovna Popova, the daughter of a Don Cossack from Uryupinsk. She entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory to study piano. She soon became bored with her classes. Then Anna began to attend the drawing school at the Academy of Arts. We must pay tribute: she showed a certain talent in painting. When she met Mendeleev, she was barely 16. They got married in 1881. Anna Ivanovna was old enough to be Mendeleev’s daughter (she was 26 years younger).

And such marriages are often happy. Mendeleev created a second family, completing his fifth decade. Those scientific achievements that brought him special fame either had already taken place or were reaching their final stages. But “he only dreamed of peace.” Mendeleev's name was used world famous, and in Russia hardly anyone was more interested in the needs, situation and destinies of the country than he. Mendeleev, alas, did not find harmony in family life and with Anna Ivanovna.

And that is why children always remained the center of his attention and concerns.

Dmitry Ivanovich and Feozva Nikitichna raised Vladimir (1865-1898) and Olga (1868-1950). The son chose a naval career. He graduated with honors from the Naval Cadet Corps, sailed on the frigate "Memory of Azov" around Asia and along the Far Eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean (1890-1893). Took part in the visit of the Russian squadron to France. In 1898, he retired to develop the “Project for raising the level of the Sea of ​​Azov by damming the Kerch Strait.” It showed his talent as a hydrological engineer. Vladimir died suddenly on December 19, 1898. The following year, his father published “Project┘”. Dmitry Ivanovich wrote with deep bitterness in the preface: “My clever, loving, gentle, good-natured first-born son, on whom I counted part of my covenants, died, since I knew high and truthful, modest and at the same time deep thoughts for the benefit of the homeland, unknown to others. with which he was imbued." The scientist deeply worried about the death of Vladimir; the severe shock noticeably affected his health.

Olga (1868-1950) only managed to finish high school. She married Alexei Vladimirovich Trirogov, who studied with Vladimir in the Naval Cadet Corps. And she gave almost her entire long life to her family. Olga wrote a book of memoirs, “Mendeleev and His Family,” which was published in 1947.

Of all the descendants of Dmitry Ivanovich, Lyubov turned out to be a person who became known to a fairly wide circle of people. First of all, not as the daughter of a great scientist, but as the wife of Alexander Blok, the famous Russian poet of the Silver Age, as the heroine of his “Poems to a Beautiful Lady” cycle. Mendeleev's stormy romance with Anyuta Popova reached crescendo in the spring of 1881, when they traveled together in Italy and France. Lyuba was born on December 29, 1881, but, in essence, turned out to be illegitimate. Only on April 2, 1882 did the parents’ wedding take place in the Admiralty Church of St. Petersburg.

Lyuba graduated from the Higher Women's Courses and studied in drama clubs. She had no shortage of artistic abilities. In 1907-1908 she played in the troupe of V.E. Meyerhold and at the V.F. Theater Komissarzhevskaya. Married life Blokov's life was chaotic and not smooth - and for this, perhaps, Alexander and Lyubov were equally to blame. However, in the last years of the poet’s life, his wife always remained by his side. By the way, she became the first public performer of the poem "The Twelve". After Blok’s death, Lyubov studied the history and theory of ballet art, studied the teaching school of Agrippina Vaganova and gave acting lessons to the famous ballerinas Galina Kirillova and Natalya Dudinskaya. Lyubov Dmitrievna died in 1939.

Ivan Dmitrievich (1883-1936) was perhaps the most creatively gifted person, and only the years of hard times in Russia prevented him from truly unleashing his creative potential. After graduating from high school in 1901 with a gold medal, he entered the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, but soon transferred to the university’s Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. He helped his aging father a lot, for example, he performed complex calculations for his economic works. Thanks to Ivan, a posthumous edition of the scientist’s work “Addition to the Knowledge of Russia” was published. After the death of Dmitry Ivanovich, his son’s life changed dramatically; little information about it has been preserved. He lived in France for several years, then settled on the Mendeleev estate Boblovo, organizing a school there for peasant children. Under him, the Boblov estate burned down - a house built according to Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev’s own design. The circumstances of this sad event have not yet been clarified.

From 1924 until his death, Ivan worked in the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures, thus continuing his father’s work. Here he conducted research on the theory of scales and the design of thermostats. He was one of the first in the USSR to study the properties of heavy water. From a young age they were no strangers to Ivan philosophical problems: “Thoughts on Knowledge”, “Justification of Truth” - these are the titles of the books published by him in 1909-1910.

Ivan wrote memoirs about his father. Many of these appeared after the death of the scientist. They belonged to relatives and friends, friends and colleagues, employees, and simply people who had the opportunity to know and meet Dmitry Ivanovich (see, for example, the collection “D.I. Mendeleev in the memoirs of his contemporaries.” 2nd edition. M. : Atomizdat. 1973. 272 ​​p.). What Ivan wrote is undoubtedly of particular interest. It was he who managed, perhaps, to give the most accurate and insightful description of his father - how he knew him and how he remembered him. By coincidence, Ivan’s memoirs were published in full only in 1993. One of the scientist’s biographers, Mikhail Nikolaevich Mladentsev, wrote that between his son and father “there was a rare friendly relationship. Dmitry Ivanovich noted the natural talents of his son and had a friend in him, advisor with whom I shared ideas and thoughts."

Little information has been preserved about Vasily. By the way, he and Maria were twins (born in 1886). It is known that Vasily graduated from the Marine Technical School in Kronstadt. He had a knack for technical creativity. So, he developed a model of a super-heavy tank. After the revolution, fate brought him to Kuban, to Ekaterinodar, where he died of typhus in 1922.

Maria studied at the Higher Women's Agricultural Courses in St. Petersburg, for a long time Conducted teaching activities in technical schools. After the Great Patriotic War, she began to manage the D.I. Museum-Archive. Mendeleev at Leningrad University. Together with her employee Tamara Sergeevna Kudryavtseva, she carried out a gigantic job of disassembling and systematizing Dmitry Ivanovich’s archival documents. It was thanks to them that the scientist’s archive became convenient for use and a genuine “Mecca” for researchers of Mendeleev’s life and work. A year before the death of Maria Dmitrievna, the first collection “Archive of D.I. Mendeleev” (1951) was published.

Ivan recalled: “In a famous verse, Juvenal says that one must treat a child with the greatest respect. This was the attitude towards us, children. I don’t remember that he, an ardent and often unrestrained person in relation to adults and a strong man, ever exalted "The voice said a harsh word at us. He always turned exclusively to our rational and higher side, never demanded or ordered anything, but we felt how upset he was at any of our weaknesses - and this was stronger than persuasion and orders."

One episode especially vividly characterizes the power of Mendeleev’s fatherly love. In May 1889 he was invited by the British Chemical Society to give a year-long Faraday reading. The most outstanding chemists received this honor. Mendeleev expected to devote his report to the doctrine of periodicity, which was already gaining universal recognition. A performance like this would be truly " finest hour"But two days before the event, he receives a telegram from St. Petersburg about Vasily’s illness. Without a moment’s hesitation, the scientist decides to immediately return home. The text of the report “Periodic Law of Chemical Elements” was read for him by James Dewar.

And one cannot read Mendeleev’s diary entry dated July 10, 1905 without excitement: “In total, more than four subjects made up my name: the periodic law, studies of the elasticity of gases, understanding of solutions as associations and “Fundamentals of Chemistry.” All my wealth is here. It is not taken away from someone, but produced by me, these are my children, and, alas, I value them greatly, just like children.”

Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:	Tobolsk, Tobolsk Governorate, Russian Empire
Date of death:
A place of death:	St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Scientific field:	Chemistry, physics, economics, geology, metrology
Scientific adviser:	A. A. Voskresensky
Notable students:	D. P. Konovalov, V. A. Gemilian, A. A. Baykov, A. L. Potylitsyn, S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky
Awards and prizes:

Origin

Family and Children

Scientific activity

Periodic law

Gas research

The doctrine of solutions

Aeronautics

Metrology

Powder making

Ural expedition

Towards knowledge of Russia

Three services to the Motherland

D. I. Mendeleev and the world

Confession

Awards, academies and societies

Mendeleev Congresses

Mendeleev readings

Nobel epic

"Chemists"

Suitcases of D. I. Mendeleev

The legend of the invention of vodka

Monuments to D. I. Mendeleev

Memory of D.I. Mendeleev

Settlements and stations

Geography and astronomy

Educational establishments

Societies, conventions, magazines

Industrial enterprises

Literature

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev(January 27, 1834, Tobolsk - January 20, 1907, St. Petersburg) - Russian scientist-encyclopedist: chemist, physical chemist, physicist, metrologist, economist, technologist, geologist, meteorologist, teacher, aeronaut, instrument maker. Professor of St. Petersburg University; Corresponding Member in the “Physical” category of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Among the most famous discoveries is the periodic law of chemical elements, one of the fundamental laws of the universe, integral to all natural science.

Biography

Origin

Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev was born on January 27 (February 8), 1834 in Tobolsk into the family of Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev (1783-1847), 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. Of the seventeen children, eight died in infancy (the parents did not even have time to give three of them names), and one of the daughters, Masha, died at the age of 14 in the mid-1820s in Saratov from consumption. History has preserved the birth document of Dmitry Mendeleev - the metric book of the spiritual consistory for 1834, where on a yellowed page in the column about those born in the Tobolsk Epiphany Church it is written: “On January 27 of the Tobolsk gymnasium of the director - court adviser Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev, a son was born from his legal wife Maria Dmitrievna Dmitriy".

In one of the options for dedicating his first major work, “Study of aqueous solutions by specific gravity,” to his mother, Dmitry Ivanovich will say:

His paternal grandfather, Pavel Maksimovich Sokolov (1751-1808), was a priest of the village of Tikhomandritsy, Vyshnevolotsk district, Tver province, located two kilometers from the northern tip of Lake Udomlya. Only one of his four sons, Timofey, kept his father's surname. As was customary at that time among the clergy, after graduating from the seminary, the three sons of P. M. Sokolov were given different surnames: Alexander - Tikhomandritsky (after the name of the village), Vasily - Pokrovsky (after the parish in which Pavel Maksimovich served), and Ivan , Dmitry Ivanovich’s father, received the surname of the neighboring landowners Mendeleev as a nickname (Dmitry Ivanovich himself interpreted its origin this way: “... given to his father when he exchanged something, like the neighboring landowner Mendeleev exchanged horses”).

After graduating from theological school in 1804, Dmitry Ivanovich’s father Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev entered the philological department of the Main pedagogical institute. Having graduated among the best students in 1807, Ivan Pavlovich was appointed “teacher of philosophy, fine arts and political economy” in Tobolsk, where in 1809 he married Maria Dmitrievna Kornilieva. In December 1818, he was appointed director of schools in the Tambov province. From the summer of 1823 to November 1827, the Mendeleev family lived in Saratov, and later returned to Tobolsk, where Ivan Pavlovich received the position of director of the Tobolsk classical gymnasium. His extraordinary qualities of mind, high culture and creativity determined the pedagogical principles that guided him in teaching his subjects. In the year of Dmitry’s birth, Ivan Pavlovich became blind, which forced him to retire. To remove a cataract, he, accompanied by his daughter Catherine, went to Moscow, where, as a result of a successful operation by Dr. Brasset, his vision was restored. But he could no longer return to his previous job, and the family lived on his small pension.

D.I. Mendeleev’s mother came from an old family of Siberian merchants and industrialists. This intelligent and energetic woman played a special role in the life of the family. Having no education, she went through the gymnasium course on her own with her brothers. Due to the cramped financial situation that developed due to Ivan Pavlovich’s illness, the Mendeleevs moved to the village of Aremzyanskoye, where there was a small glass factory of Maria Dmitrievna’s brother Vasily Dmitrievich Korniliev, who lived in Moscow. M. D. Mendeleev received the right to manage the factory and after the death of I. P. Mendeleev in 1847, the large family lived on funds received from it. Dmitry Ivanovich recalled: “There, at the glass factory run by my mother, I got my first impressions of nature, people, and industrial affairs.” Noticing the special abilities of her youngest son, she managed to find the strength to leave her native Siberia forever, leaving Tobolsk to give Dmitry the opportunity to receive a higher education. The year her son graduated from high school, Maria Dmitrievna liquidated all affairs in Siberia and, with Dmitry and her youngest daughter Elizaveta, went to Moscow to enroll the young man in university.

Childhood

The childhood of D. I. Mendeleev coincided with the time of the exiled Decembrists in Siberia. A. M. Muravyov, P. N. Svistunov, M. A. Fonvizin lived in the Tobolsk province. Dmitry Ivanovich's sister, Olga, became his wife former member Southern Society N.V. Basargin, and they lived for a long time in Yalutorovsk next to I.I. Pushchin, together with whom they provided the Mendeleev family with assistance, which became essential after the death of Ivan Pavlovich.

Also, his uncle V.D. Korniliev had a great influence on the worldview of the future scientist; the Mendeleevs lived with him repeatedly and for a long time during his stay in Moscow. Vasily Dmitrievich was the manager of the Trubetskoy princes who lived on Pokrovka, like V.D. Korniliev; and his house was often visited by many representatives of the cultural environment, among whom, at literary evenings or for no reason at all, there were writers: F.N. Glinka, S. P. Shevyrev, I. I. Dmitriev, M. P. Pogodin, E. A. Baratynsky, N. V. Gogol, Sergei Lvovich Pushkin, the poet’s father, was also a guest; artists P. A. Fedotov, N. A. Ramazanov; scientists: N. F. Pavlov, I. M. Snegirev, P. N. Kudryavtsev. In 1826, Korniliev and his wife, the daughter of Commander Billings, hosted Alexander Pushkin, who returned to Moscow from exile, on Pokrovka.

Information has been preserved indicating that D. I. Mendeleev once saw N. V. Gogol in the Kornilevs’ house.

Despite all this, Dmitry Ivanovich remained the same boy as most of his peers. Dmitry Ivanovich’s son Ivan Mendeleev recalls that once, when his father was unwell, he told him: “My whole body aches like after our school fight on the Tobolsk Bridge.”

It should be noted that among the teachers of the gymnasium, a Siberian who taught Russian literature and literature stood out, the later famous Russian poet Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov, since 1844 - an inspector of the Tobolsk gymnasium, as once his teacher Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev. Later, the author of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” and Dmitry Ivanovich were destined to become relatives to some extent.

Family and Children

Dmitry Ivanovich was married twice. In 1862, he married Feozva Nikitichnaya Leshcheva, a native of Tobolsk (stepdaughter of the famous author of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov). His wife (Fiza, given name) was 6 years older than him. In this marriage three children were born: daughter Maria (1863) - she died in infancy, son Volodya (1865-1898) and daughter Olga (1868-1950). At the end of 1878, 43-year-old Dmitry Mendeleev fell passionately in love with 23-year-old Anna Ivanovna Popova (1860-1942), the daughter of a Don Cossack from Uryupinsk. In his second marriage, D.I. Mendeleev had four children: Lyubov, Ivan (1883-1936) and twins Maria and Vasily. At the beginning of the 21st century. Of Mendeleev's descendants, only Alexander, the grandson of his daughter Maria, is alive.

D. I. Mendeleev was the father-in-law of the Russian poet Alexander Blok, who was married to his daughter Lyubov.

D.I. Mendeleev was the uncle of the Russian scientist Mikhail Yakovlevich (professor-hygienist) and Fyodor Yakovlevich (professor-physicist) Kapustin, who were the sons of his elder sister Ekaterina Ivanovna Mendeleeva (Kapustina).

About the Japanese granddaughter of Dmitry Ivanovich - in an article dedicated to the work of B. N. Rzhonsnitsky.

Chronicle of the creative life of a scientist

1841-1859

• 1841 - entered the Tobolsk gymnasium.
• 1855 - graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Main Pedagogical Institute in St. Petersburg.
• 1855 - senior teacher of natural sciences at the Simferopol men's gymnasium. At the request of the St. Petersburg doctor N. F. Zdekauer, in mid-September Dmitry Mendeleev was examined by N. I. Pirogov, who stated the patient’s satisfactory condition: “You will outlive both of us.”
• 1855-1856 - senior teacher of the gymnasium at the Richelieu Lyceum in Odessa.
• 1856 - brilliantly defended his dissertation “for the right to give lectures” - “Structure of silica compounds” (opponents A. A. Voskresensky and M. V. Skoblikov), successfully delivered the introductory lecture “Structure of silicate compounds”; at the end of January it was published in a separate publication in St. Petersburg PhD thesis D. I. Mendeleev “Isomorphism in connection with other relationships of crystalline form to composition”; On October 10, he was awarded a master's degree in chemistry.
• 1857 - On January 9, he was confirmed as a private associate professor at the Imperial St. Petersburg University in the Department of Chemistry.
• 1857-1890 - taught at the Imperial St. Petersburg University (from 1865 - professor of chemical technology, from 1867 - professor of general chemistry) - lectured on chemistry in the 2nd cadet corps; at the same time in 1863-1872 - a professor at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, in 1863-1872 he headed the chemical laboratory of the institute, and also simultaneously taught at the Nikolaev Engineering Academy and School; - at the Institute of the Corps of Railway Engineers.
• 1859-1861 - was on a scientific trip to Heidelberg.

Heidelberg period (1859-1861)

Having received permission in January 1859 to travel to Europe “to improve in the sciences,” D. I. Mendeleev was only able to leave St. St. Petersburg.

He had a clear research plan - a theoretical consideration of the close relationship between chemical and physical properties substances based on the study of the adhesion forces of particles, which should have been served by data obtained experimentally in the process of measurements at different temperatures of the surface tension of liquids - capillarity.

A month later, after becoming familiar with the capabilities of several scientific centers, preference was given to Heidelberg University, where outstanding natural scientists work: R. Bunsen, G. Kirchhoff, G. Helmholtz, E. Erlenmeyer and others. There is information that suggests that D.I. Mendeleev subsequently had a meeting with J.W. Gibbs in Heidelberg. The equipment of R. Bunsen’s laboratory did not allow for such “delicate experiments as capillary experiments,” and D.I. Mendeleev formed an independent research base: he brought gas into the rented apartment, adapted a separate room for the synthesis and purification of substances, and another for observations. In Bonn, the “famous glass maestro” G. Gessler gives him lessons, making about 20 thermometers and “inimitably good instruments for determining specific gravity" He orders special cathetometers and microscopes from the famous Parisian mechanics Perrault and Salleron.

The works of this period are of great importance for understanding the methodology of large-scale theoretical generalization, to which well-prepared and constructed subtle studies are subordinated, and which will be a characteristic feature of his universe. This is a theoretical experiment in “molecular mechanics”, the initial values ​​of which were assumed to be the mass, volume and force of interaction of particles (molecules). The scientist's workbooks show that he consistently searched for an analytical expression demonstrating the relationship between the composition of a substance and these three parameters. D. I. Mendeleev’s assumption about the function of surface tension associated with the structure and composition of matter allows us to speak of his foresight of “parachor”, but the data of the mid-19th century were not capable of becoming the basis for the logical conclusion of this research - D. I. Mendeleev had to abandon theoretical generalization.

At present, “molecular mechanics”, the main provisions of which D. I. Mendeleev tried to formulate, has only historical significance, meanwhile, these studies of the scientist make it possible to observe the relevance of his views, which corresponded to the advanced concepts of the era, and which became generally widespread only after the International Chemical Congress in Karlsruhe (1860).

In Heidelberg, Mendeleev had an affair with the actress Agnes Feuchtmann, to whom he subsequently sent money for the child, although he was not sure of his paternity.

1860-1907

• 1860 - September 3-5 takes part in the first International Chemical Congress in Karlsruhe.
• 1865 - On January 31 (February 12), at a meeting of the Council of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University, he defended his doctoral dissertation “On the combination of alcohol with water,” which laid the foundations of his doctrine of solutions.
• 1876 ​​- December 29 (January 10), 1877, he was elected a corresponding member in the “physics” category of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, in 1880 he was nominated as an academician, but on November 11 (23) he was voted out by the German majority of the Academy, which caused a sharp public protest.
• He took part in the development of technologies for the first plant in Russia for the production of engine oils, launched in 1879 in the village of Konstantinovsky in the Yaroslavl province, which now bears his name.
• 1880s - Dmitry Ivanovich again studies solutions, publishes the work “Study of aqueous solutions by specific gravity.”
• 1880-1888 - took an active part in the development of the project for the creation and construction of the first Siberian University in Russian Asia in Tomsk, for which he repeatedly advised the head of the TSU construction committee, Professor V. M. Florinsky. He was planned to be the first rector of this university, but due to a number of family reasons, he did not go to Tomsk in 1888. A few years later, he actively helped in the creation of the Tomsk Technological Institute and the development of chemical science there.
• 1890 - left St. Petersburg University due to a conflict with the Minister of Education, who, during student unrest, refused to accept a student petition from Mendeleev.
• 1892 - Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev - scientist-custodian of the Depot of Model Weights and Scales, which in 1893, on his initiative, was transformed into the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures (now the All-Russian Research Institute of Metrology named after D. I. Mendeleev).
• 1893 - worked at the chemical plant of P.K. Ushkov (later named after L.Ya. Karpov; Bondyuzhsky village, now Mendeleevsk) using the plant’s production base to produce smokeless gunpowder (pyrocollodia). Subsequently, he noted that having visited “quite a few Western European chemical plants, I saw with pride that what was created by a Russian figure could not only not be inferior, but also in many ways surpass foreign ones.”
• 1899 - heads the Ural expedition, which involves stimulating the industrial and economic development of the region.
• 1900 - participates in the World Exhibition in Paris; he wrote the first in Russian - a large article on synthetic fibers “Viscose at the Paris Exhibition”, which noted the importance for Russia of the development of their industry.
• 1903 - the first chairman of the State Examination Commission of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, in the creation of which the scientist took an active part. Among others, 60 years later Ivan Fedorovich Ponomarev (1882-1982) recalled D.I. Mendeleev’s visit to the Institute during the days of defending his first theses.

Member of many academies of sciences and scientific societies. One of the founders of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society (1868 - chemical, and 1872 - physical) and its third president (since 1932, transformed into the All-Union Chemical Society, which was then named after him, now the Russian Chemical Society named after D.I. Mendeleev).

D.I. Mendeleev died on January 20 (February 2), 1907 in St. Petersburg. He was buried on the Literary Bridges of the Volkovskoye Cemetery.

He left more than 1,500 works, including the classic “Fundamentals of Chemistry” (parts 1-2, 1869-1871, 13th edition, 1947) - the first harmonious presentation of inorganic chemistry.

The 101st chemical element, mendelevium, is named after Mendeleev.

Scientific activity

D. I. Mendeleev - author basic research in chemistry, physics, metrology, meteorology, economics, fundamental works on aeronautics, agriculture, chemical technology, public education and other works closely related to the needs of the development of the productive forces of Russia.

D.I. Mendeleev studied (in 1854-1856) the phenomena of isomorphism, revealing the relationship between the crystalline form and chemical composition of compounds, as well as the dependence of the properties of elements on the size of their atomic volumes.

He discovered the “absolute boiling point of liquids,” or critical temperature, in 1860.

On December 16, 1860, he writes from Heidelberg to the trustee of the St. Petersburg educational district I.D. Delyanov: “... the main subject of my studies is physical chemistry.”

In 1859 he designed a pycnometer, a device for determining the density of a liquid. Created the hydration theory of solutions in 1865-1887. Developed ideas about the existence of compounds of variable composition.

While exploring gases, Mendeleev found in 1874 general equation state of an ideal gas, including, in particular, the dependence of the gas state on temperature, discovered in 1834 by the physicist B. P. E. Clapeyron (Clapeyron-Mendeleev equation).

In 1877, Mendeleev put forward a hypothesis about the origin of oil from heavy metal carbides, which, however, is not accepted by most scientists today; proposed the principle of fractional distillation in oil refining.

In 1880 he put forward the idea of ​​underground gasification of coal. He dealt with the issues of chemicalization of agriculture, promoted the use of mineral fertilizers and irrigation of arid lands. Together with I.M. Cheltsov, he took part in the development of smokeless gunpowder in 1890-1892. He is the author of a number of works on metrology. He created an accurate theory of scales, developed the best designs of the rocker arm and arrester, and proposed the most accurate weighing techniques.

At one time, D.I. Mendeleev’s interests were close to mineralogy; his collection of minerals is now carefully preserved in the Museum of the Department of Mineralogy of St. Petersburg University, and a rock crystal druse from his table is one of the best exhibits in the quartz showcase. He placed a drawing of this druse in the first edition of General Chemistry (1903). D. I. Mendeleev's student work was devoted to isomorphism in minerals.

Periodic law

While working on the work “Fundamentals of Chemistry,” D. I. Mendeleev discovered in February 1869 one of the fundamental laws of nature - the periodic law of chemical elements.

On March 6 (18), 1869, the famous report of D. I. Mendeleev “Relationship of properties with the atomic weight of elements” was read by N. A. Menshutkin at a meeting of the Russian Chemical Society. In the same year, this message in German appeared in the journal “Zeitschrift für Chemie”, and in 1871 in the journal “Annalen der Chemie” a detailed publication by D. I. Mendeleev was published, dedicated to his discovery - “Die periodische Gesetzmässigkeit der Elemente” (Periodic pattern of chemical elements).

Some scientists in a number of countries, especially in Germany, consider Lothar Meyer to be the co-author of the discovery. The significant difference between these systems is that L. Meyer’s table is one of the options for classifying chemical elements known at that time; The periodicity identified by D.I. Mendeleev is a system that gave an understanding of the pattern that made it possible to determine the place in it of elements unknown at that time, to predict not only the existence, but also to give their characteristics.

Without giving an idea of ​​the structure of the atom, the periodic law, however, comes close to this problem, and its solution was undoubtedly found thanks to it - it was this system that guided the researchers, linking the factors he identified with other physical characteristics that interested them. In 1984, Academician V.I. Spitsyn writes: “...The first ideas about the structure of atoms and the nature of chemical valence, developed at the beginning of our century, were based on the regularities of the properties of elements established using the periodic law.”

The German scientist, editor-in-chief of the fundamental manual “Anorganicum” - a combined course of inorganic, physical and analytical chemistry, which has gone through more than ten editions, Academician L. Colditz interprets the features of D. I. Mendeleev’s discovery in this way, comparing highest degree convincing results of his work with the work of other researchers who were looking for similar patterns:

Developing the ideas of periodicity in 1869-1871, D. I. Mendeleev introduced the concept of the place of an element in the periodic system as a set of its properties in comparison with the properties of other elements. On this basis, in particular, based on the results of studying the sequence of changes in glass-forming oxides, I corrected the values ​​of the atomic masses of 9 elements (beryllium, indium, uranium, etc.). Predicted the existence in 1870, calculated the atomic masses and described the properties of three elements not yet discovered at that time - “eka-aluminium” (discovered in 1875 and named gallium), “ekabor” (discovered in 1879 and named scandium) and “eca-silicon” (discovered in 1885 and named germanium). Then he predicted the existence of eight more elements, including “dwitellurium” - polonium (discovered in 1898), “ecaiodine” - astatine (discovered in 1942-1943), “ekamanganese” - technetium (discovered in 1937), “dimanganese "-Rhenia (opened in 1925), "Ekacesia" - France (opened in 1939).

In 1900, Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev and William Ramsay came to the conclusion that it was necessary to include a special, zero group of noble gases in the periodic table of elements.

Specific volumes. Chemistry of silicates and glassy state

This section of the work of D. I. Mendeleev, not expressed by the results of the scale of natural science as a whole, nevertheless, like everything in his research practice, being an integral part and milestone on the way to them, and in some cases - their foundation, is extremely important and to understand the development of these studies. As will become clear from what follows, it is closely connected with the fundamental components of the scientist’s worldview, covering areas from isomorphism and the “fundamentals of chemistry” to the basis of the periodic law, from understanding the nature of solutions to views concerning issues of the structure of substances.

The first works of D.I. Mendeleev in 1854 were chemical analyzes of silicates. These were studies of “orthite from Finland” and “pyroxene from Ruskiala in Finland”, about the third analysis of the mineral clay rock - umber - there is information only in the message of S.S. Kutorga in the Russian Geographical Society. D.I. Mendeleev returned to questions of analytical chemistry of silicates in connection with his master's exams - the written answer concerns the analysis of silicate containing lithium. This short series of works sparked the researcher’s interest in isomorphism: the scientist compares the composition of orthite with the compositions of other similar minerals and comes to the conclusion that such a comparison makes it possible to construct a variable chemical composition isomorphic series.

In May 1856, D.I. Mendeleev, having returned to St. Petersburg from Odessa, prepared a dissertation under the general title “Specific Volumes” - a multifaceted study, a kind of trilogy devoted to topical issues of chemistry in the mid-19th century. The large volume of work (about 20 printed sheets) did not allow it to be published in full. Only the first part was published, entitled, like the entire dissertation, “Specific Volumes”; from the second part, only a fragment was later published in the form of an article “On the connection of some physical properties of bodies with chemical reactions”; the third part was not fully published during the life of D.I. Mendeleev - in an abbreviated form it was presented in 1864 in the fourth issue of the Technical Encyclopedia, dedicated to glass production. Through the interconnection of the issues covered in the work, D. I. Mendeleev consistently approached the formulation and solution of the most significant problems in his scientific work: identifying patterns in the classification of elements, building a system that characterizes compounds through their composition, structure and properties, creating prerequisites for the formation of a mature theory of solutions .

In the first part of this work by D.I. Mendeleev - a detailed critical analysis of the literature on the issue, he expressed an original idea about the connection between molecular weight and volume of gaseous bodies. The scientist derived a formula for calculating the molecular weight of a gas, that is, the formulation of the Avogadro-Gerard law was given for the first time. Later, the outstanding Russian physical chemist E.V. Biron would write: “As far as I know, D.I. Mendeleev was the first to believe that we could already talk about Avogadro’s law, since the hypothesis in which the law was first formulated was justified during experimental testing... "

Based on the colossal factual material in the section “Specific volumes and composition of silica compounds,” D. I. Mendeleev comes to a broad generalization. Not adhering, unlike many researchers (G. Kopp, I. Schroeder, etc.), to a mechanistic interpretation of the volumes of compounds as the sum of the volumes of the elements that form them, but paying tribute to the results obtained by these scientists, D. I. Mendeleev is looking for non-formal quantitative regularities in volumes, but tries to establish a connection between the quantitative relationships of volumes and the totality of qualitative characteristics of a substance. Thus, he comes to the conclusion that volume, like crystalline form, is a criterion for the similarity and difference of elements and the compounds they form, and takes a step towards creating a system of elements, directly indicating that the study of volumes “can serve to benefit the natural classification of minerals.” and organic bodies."

Of particular interest is the part called “On the composition of silica compounds.” With exceptional depth and thoroughness, D.I. Mendeleev first presented his view of the nature of silicates as compounds similar to alloys of oxide systems. The scientist established a connection between silicates as compounds of the (MeO)x(SiO)x type and “undetermined” compounds of other types, in particular, solutions, which was expressed by the correct interpretation of the glassy state.

It was with the observation of glass-making processes that D. I. Mendeleev’s path in science began. Perhaps it was this fact that played a decisive role in his choice; in any case, this topic, directly related to the chemistry of silicates, in one form or another naturally comes into contact with many of his other researches.

The place of silicates in nature is succinctly, but with exhaustive clarity, defined by D. I. Mendeleev:

This phrase indicates both the scientist’s understanding of the primary utilitarian significance of silicate materials, the oldest and most widespread in practice, and the complexity of silicate chemistry; Therefore, the scientist’s interest in this class of substances, in addition to its well-known practical significance, was associated with the development of the most important concept of chemistry - a chemical compound, with the creation of a taxonomy of compounds, with the solution to the question of the relationship between the concepts: chemical compound (definite and indefinite) - solution. To understand the importance and scientific significance of the very formulation of the question, its relevance even after more than a century, it is enough to cite the words of one of the specialists in the field of silicate chemistry, Academician M. M. Shultz, which he said at the XIII Mendeleev Congress, held during the 150th anniversary of anniversary of D. I. Mendeleev: “...Until today there is no general definitions, which would establish a clear relationship between the essence of the concepts “compound” and “solution”. ...As soon as atoms and molecules interact with each other when their concentration in a gas increases, not to mention condensed phases, the question immediately arises at what level of interaction energy and at what numerical ratio between interacting particles can be separated from each other friend of the concept of “chemical combination of particles” or their “mutual solution”: there are no objective criteria for this, they have not yet been developed, despite the countless number of works on this topic and its apparent simplicity.”

The study of glass helped D.I. Mendeleev to better understand the nature of silicic acid compounds and to see some important features of the chemical compound in general using this peculiar substance.

D. I. Mendeleev devoted about 30 works to the topics of glass making, the chemistry of silicates and the glassy state.

Gas research

This topic in the works of D.I. Mendeleev is connected, first of all, with the scientist’s search for the physical causes of periodicity. Since the properties of the elements were periodically dependent on atomic weights and mass, the researcher thought it was possible to shed light on this problem by elucidating the causes of gravitational forces and by studying the properties of the medium transmitting them.

The concept of the “world ether” had a great influence in the 19th century on the possible solution to this problem. It was assumed that the “ether” that fills interplanetary space is a medium that transmits light, heat and gravity. The study of highly rarefied gases seemed to be a possible means of proving the existence of the named substance, when the properties of the “ordinary” substance would no longer be able to hide the properties of the “ether”.

One of D.I. Mendeleev’s hypotheses was that the specific state of air gases at high rarefaction could be “ether” or some kind of gas with a very low weight. D.I. Mendeleev wrote on a print from “Fundamentals of Chemistry”, on the periodic table of 1871: “Ether is the lightest of all, millions of times”; and in a workbook from 1874, the scientist expresses his train of thought even more clearly: “At zero pressure, the air has a certain density, this is ether!” However, among his publications of this time no such definite considerations were expressed ( D. I. Mendeleev. An attempt at a chemical understanding of the world ether. 1902).

In the context of assumptions related to the behavior of a highly rarefied gas (inert - the “lightest chemical element”) in outer space, D. I. Mendeleev relies on information obtained by astronomer A. A. Belopolsky: “The inspector of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures necessarily supplied me with the following results of the latest research, including that of Mr. Belopolsky.” And then he directly refers to this data in his conclusions.

Despite the hypothetical nature of the initial premises of these studies, the main and most important result in the field of physics, obtained thanks to them by D. I. Mendeleev, was the derivation of the ideal gas equation containing the universal gas constant. Also very important, but somewhat premature, was the introduction of a thermodynamic temperature scale proposed by D.I. Mendeleev.

Scientists also chose the right direction to describe the properties of real gases. The virial expansions he used correspond to the first approximations in the now known equations for real gases.

In the section related to the study of gases and liquids, D.I. Mendeleev did 54 works.

The doctrine of solutions

In 1905, D.I. Mendeleev will say: “In total, more than four subjects made up my name, the periodic law, the study of the elasticity of gases, the understanding of solutions as an association and the “Fundamentals of Chemistry”. This is my wealth. It was not taken away from anyone, but produced by me...”

Throughout its entire scientific life D.I. Mendeleev’s interest in “solution” topics did not weaken. His most significant research in this area dates back to the mid-1860s, and the most important - to the 1880s. However, the scientist’s publications show that in other periods of his scientific work he did not interrupt research that contributed to the creation of the basis of his doctrine of solutions. The concept of D.I. Mendeleev evolved from very contradictory and imperfect initial ideas about the nature of this phenomenon in inextricable connection with the development of his ideas in other directions, primarily with the doctrine of chemical compounds.

D.I. Mendeleev showed that a correct understanding of solutions is impossible without taking into account their chemistry, their relationship to certain compounds (the absence of a boundary between them and solutions) and the complex chemical equilibrium in solutions - its main significance lies in the development of these three inextricably linked aspects. However, D.I. Mendeleev himself never called his scientific positions in the field of solutions a theory - not he himself, but his opponents and followers so called what he called “understanding” and “representation”, and the works of this direction - “an attempt to illuminate a hypothetical view of the entire body of data on solutions” - “...the theory of solutions is still far away”; The scientist saw the main obstacle in its formation “from the theory of the liquid state of matter.”

It would be useful to note that, developing this direction, D.I. Mendeleev, having initially a priori put forward the idea of ​​the temperature at which the height of the meniscus would be zero, conducted a series of experiments in May 1860. At a certain temperature, which the experimenter called the “absolute boiling point,” liquid silicon chloride (SiCl4) heated in a paraffin bath in a sealed volume “disappears,” turning into steam. In an article dedicated to the study, D.I. Mendeleev reports that at the absolute boiling point, the complete transition of liquid into vapor is accompanied by a decrease in surface tension and heat of evaporation to zero. This work is the scientist's first major achievement.

It is also important that the theory of electrolyte solutions acquired a satisfactory direction only by adopting the ideas of D.I. Mendeleev, when the hypothesis about the existence of ions in electrolyte solutions was synthesized with Mendeleev’s theory of solutions.

D. I. Mendeleev devoted 44 works to solutions and hydrates.

Commission to examine mediumistic phenomena

Having had many supporters in Western Europe and America in the mid-19th century, by the 1870s, views that implied a search for solutions to the problems of the unknown by turning to vulgar forms of mysticism and esotericism, in particular to phenomena called for some time now paranormal, and in the ordinary, devoid of scientific vocabulary - spiritualism, spiritism or mediumship.

The very process of a spiritualistic session is presented by adherents of these movements as a moment of restoration of the previously broken temporary unity of matter and energy, and thereby allegedly confirms their separate existence. D.I. Mendeleev wrote about the main “drivers” of interest in this kind of speculation, the contact between the intelligible and the subconscious.

Among the leaders of the circle who were inclined to the legitimacy of such an understanding of the world order were: the outstanding Russian chemist A. M. Butlerov (at that time - a supporter of the theory of the “fourth” state of matter, a like-minded person of the convinced spiritualist W. Crookes), zoologist N. P. Wagner and the famous publicist A. N. Aksakov.

Initially, an attempt to expose spiritualism was made by Academician P. L. Chebyshev and Professor M. F. Tsion, brother and employee of the famous physician I. F. Tsion, one of the teachers of I. P. Pavlov (sessions with the “medium” Jung). In the mid-1870s, on the initiative of D.I. Mendeleev, the still young Russian Physical Society came out with sharp criticism of spiritualism. On May 6, 1875, it was decided to “create a commission to verify all “phenomena” accompanying spiritualistic seances.”

Experiments to study the actions of “mediums”, the Petty brothers and Mrs. Kleyer, sent by W. Crooks at the request of A. N. Aksakov, began in the spring of 1875. The opponents were A. M. Butlerov, N. P. Wagner and A. N. Aksakov. The first meeting is on May 7 (chaired by F.F. Ewald), the second is on May 8. After this, the work of the commission was interrupted until the fall - the third meeting took place only on October 27, and already on October 28, teacher, figure in the capital’s Duma Fyodor Fedorovich Ewald, who was part of the first composition of the commission, writes to D. I. Mendeleev: “... reading books compiled by Mr. A N. Aksakov and other similar attacks produced on me a decisive aversion to everything related to spiritualism, mediumship too,” he withdraws from participation. In his place, physicists D.K. Bobylev and D.A. Lachinov were included in the work of the commission, despite the heavy pedagogical workload.

At different stages of the commission’s work (spring 1875, autumn - winter 1875-1876), its members included: D.K. Bobylev, I.I. Borgman, N.P. Bulygin, N.A. Gezekhus, N. G. Egorov, A. S. Elenev, S. I. Kovalevsky, K. D. Kraevich, D. Lachinov, D. Mendeleev, N. P. Petrov, F. F. Petrushevsky, P. P. Fander- Flit, A. I. Khmolovsky, F. F. Ewald.

The commission used a number of methods and technological techniques that excluded the use of physical laws for manipulation by “magnetizers”: pyramidal and manometric tables, the elimination of external factors that prevented the full perception of the experimental situation, allowing for the strengthening of illusions and distortion of the perception of reality. The result of the commission’s activities was the identification of a number of special misleading techniques, the exposure of obvious deception, the statement of the absence of any effects under the correct conditions, preventing an ambiguous interpretation of the phenomenon - spiritualism was recognized as a consequence of the use of “mediums” psychological factors to control the consciousness of ordinary people - superstition.

The work of the commission and the controversy surrounding the subject of its consideration caused a lively response not only in periodicals, which generally took the side of sanity. D.I. Mendeleev, however, in the final publication warns journalists against a frivolous, one-sided and incorrect interpretation of the role and influence of superstition. P. D. Boborykin, N. S. Leskov, many others and, above all, F. M. Dostoevsky gave their assessment. The latter's critical remarks are largely related not to spiritualism as such, of which he himself was an opponent, but to the rationalistic views of D. I. Mendeleev. F. M. Dostoevsky points out: “with the “wanting to believe,” desire can be given a new weapon into the hands.” At the beginning of the 21st century, this reproach remains valid: “I will not go deeper into the description of the technical techniques that we read in the scientific treatises of Mendeleev... Having applied some of them experimentally, we discovered that we can establish a special connection with some incomprehensible to us , but completely real beings."

To summarize, D.I. Mendeleev points to a difference rooted in the initial moral position of the researcher: in “conscientious error” or conscious deception. It is moral principles that he places at the forefront in the overall assessment of all aspects of the phenomenon itself, its interpretation and, first of all, the beliefs of the scientist, independent of his direct activities - and should he have them at all? In response to a letter from the “Mother of the Family”, who accused the scientist of inculcating crude materialism, he declares that “he is ready to serve, one way or another, as a means so that there are fewer crude materialists and bigots, and there are more people who truly understand what is between there is an primordial unity between science and moral principles.”

In the work of D. I. Mendeleev, this topic, like everything in his circle of interests, is naturally connected with several areas of his scientific activity: psychology, philosophy, pedagogy, popularization of knowledge, gas research, aeronautics, meteorology, etc.; The fact that it lies at this intersection is also shown by the publication summarizing the activities of the commission. While the study of gases indirectly, through hypotheses about the “world ether”, for example, is related to the “hypothetical” factors accompanying the main topic of the activities under consideration (including air fluctuations), an indication of the connection with meteorology and aeronautics may entail a reasonable bewilderment. However, it was not by chance that they appeared in this list in the form of related topics, “present” already on the title page of the “Materials”, and the words from D. I. Mendeleev’s public readings in Salt Town best answer the question about meteorology:

Aeronautics

While dealing with issues of aeronautics, D.I. Mendeleev, firstly, continues his research in the field of gases and meteorology, and secondly, develops the themes of his works that come into contact with the topics of environmental resistance and shipbuilding.

In 1875, he developed a design for a stratospheric balloon with a volume of about 3600 m³ with a hermetic gondola, implying the possibility of ascent to the upper layers of the atmosphere (the first such flight into the stratosphere was carried out by O. Picard only in 1924). D.I. Mendeleev also designed a controlled balloon with engines. In 1878, the scientist, while in France, ascended in Henri Giffard's tethered balloon.

In the summer of 1887, D.I. Mendeleev carried out his famous flight. This became possible thanks to the assistance of the Russian Technical Society in matters of equipment. Important role V. I. Sreznevsky and, especially, the inventor and aeronaut S. K. Dzhevetsky played a role in the preparation of this event.

D.I. Mendeleev, talking about this flight, explains why the RTO turned to him with such an initiative: “The technical society, inviting me to make observations from a balloon during a total solar eclipse, wanted, of course, to serve knowledge and saw that this answered those concepts and the role of balloons that I previously developed.”

The circumstances of the preparation for the flight once again speak of D.I. Mendeleev as a brilliant experimenter (here we can recall what he believed: “A professor who only teaches a course, but himself does not work in science and does not move forward, is not only useless, but downright harmful. It will instill in beginners the deadening spirit of classicism and scholasticism, and will kill their living aspirations." D.I. Mendeleev was very fascinated by the opportunity to observe the solar corona from a balloon for the first time during a total eclipse. He proposed using hydrogen rather than illuminating gas to fill the balloon, which allowed it to rise to a greater height, which expanded the possibilities of observation. And here again the collaboration with D. A. Lachinov had an impact, around the same time he developed an electrolytic method for producing hydrogen, the wide possibilities of using which D. I. Mendeleev points out in “Fundamentals of Chemistry”.

The natural scientist assumed that studying the solar corona should provide the key to understanding issues related to the origin of the worlds. Among the cosmogonic hypotheses, his attention was attracted by the idea that appeared at that time about the origin of bodies from cosmic dust: “Then the sun with all its power itself turns out to be dependent on invisibly small bodies rushing in space, and all the power solar system is drawn from this infinite source and depends only on organization, on the addition of these smallest units into a complex individual system. Then the “crown”, perhaps, is a condensed mass of these small cosmic bodies that form the sun and support its power.” In comparison with another hypothesis - about the origin of the bodies of the solar system from the substance of the sun - he expresses the following considerations: “No matter how opposite these concepts may seem at first glance, they will somehow fit in, be reconciled - this is the property of science, which contains conclusions of thought, tested and verified. We just need to not be content with what has already been established and recognized, we must not become petrified in it, we must study further and deeper, more accurately and in more detail, all phenomena that can help clarify these fundamental questions. “Corona” will, of course, greatly help this study.”

This flight attracted the attention of the general public. War Ministry provided a “Russian” balloon with a volume of 700 m³. I. E. Repin arrives in Boblovo on March 6, and after D. I. Mendeleev and K. D. Kraevich goes to Klin. These days he made sketches.

On August 7, at the start site - a wasteland in the north-west of the city, near Yamskaya Sloboda, despite the early hour, huge crowds of spectators gather. Aeronaut pilot A.M. Kovanko was supposed to fly with D.I. Mendeleev, but due to the rain the day before, the humidity increased, the balloon got wet - he was not able to lift two people. At the insistence of D.I. Mendeleev, his companion came out of the basket, having previously given the scientist a lecture on controlling the ball, showing him what and how to do. Mendeleev went on a flight alone. He subsequently commented on his determination:

...A significant role in my decision was played... by the consideration that people usually think about us, professors and scientists in general, everywhere, that we speak, advise, but do not know how to handle practical matters, which we, as Shchedrin’s generals, always We need a man to get things done, otherwise everything will fall out of our hands. I wanted to demonstrate that this opinion, perhaps fair in some other respects, is unfair in relation to natural scientists who spend their whole lives in the laboratory, on excursions and generally in the study of nature. We must certainly be able to master practice, and it seemed to me that it would be useful to demonstrate this so that everyone would one day know the truth instead of prejudice. Here was an excellent opportunity for this.

The balloon could not rise as high as the conditions of the proposed experiments required - the sun was partially obscured by clouds. In the researcher's diary, the first entry occurs at 6:55 a.m., 20 minutes after takeoff. The scientist notes the aneroid readings - 525 mm and the air temperature - 1.2°: “It smells like gas. Clouds on top. Clear all around (that is, at the level of the balloon). The cloud hid the sun. Already three miles. I’ll wait for self-lowering.” At 7:10-12 m: height 3.5 versts, pressure 510-508 mm on the aneroid. The balloon covered a distance of about 100 km, rising to a maximum height of 3.8 km; Having flown over Taldom at 8:45 a.m., it began to descend at approximately 9:00 a.m. A successful landing took place between Kalyazin and Pereslavl-Zalessky, near the village of Spas-Ugol (the estate of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin). Already on the ground, at 9:20 a.m., D.I. Mendeleev entered into his notebook the aneroid readings - 750 mm, air temperature - 16.2°. During the flight, the scientist eliminated a malfunction in the control of the main valve of the balloon, which showed good knowledge of the practical side of aeronautics.

It was suggested that the successful flight was a coincidence of happy random circumstances - the aeronaut could not agree with this - repeating the famous words of A.V. Suvorov “happiness, God have mercy, happiness,” he adds: “Yes, we need something besides it. It seems to me that the most important thing, besides the launching tools - the valve, hydron, ballast and anchor, is a calm and conscious attitude to the matter. Just as beauty responds, if not always, then most often to a high degree of expediency, so luck responds to a calm and completely reasonable attitude towards the goal and means.”

For this flight, the International Committee for Aeronautics in Paris awarded D. I. Mendeleev a medal from the French Academy of Aerostatic Meteorology.

The scientist evaluates this experience as follows: “If my flight from Klin, which added nothing to the knowledge of the “crown,” would have served to arouse interest in meteorological observations from balloons inside Russia, if, in addition, it had increased the general confidence in the fact that even a beginner can fly in balloons comfortably, then I would not have flown through the air in vain on August 7, 1887.”

D. I. Mendeleev showed great interest in heavier-than-air aircraft; he was interested in one of the first aircraft with propellers, invented by A. F. Mozhaisky. In the fundamental monograph by D.I. Mendeleev, devoted to issues of environmental resistance, there is a section on aeronautics; In general, scientists have written 23 articles on this topic, combining in his work the indicated direction of research with the development of studies in the field of meteorology.

Shipbuilding. Development of the Far North

Representing the development of research on gases and liquids, D. I. Mendeleev’s works on environmental resistance and aeronautics are continued in works devoted to shipbuilding and the development of Arctic navigation.

This part of the scientific creativity of D. I. Mendeleev is determined to the greatest extent by his collaboration with Admiral S. O. Makarov - the consideration of scientific information obtained by the latter in oceanological expeditions, their joint work related to the creation of an experimental pool, the idea of ​​which belonged to Dmitry Ivanovich, who hosted active participation in this matter at all stages of its implementation - from design, technical and organizational measures - to construction, and directly related to testing of ship models, after the pool was finally built in 1894. D. I. Mendeleev enthusiastically supported the efforts of S. O. Makarov aimed at creating a large Arctic icebreaker.

When in the late 1870s D.I. Mendeleev was studying the resistance of the environment, he expressed the idea of ​​​​building an experimental pool for testing ships. But only in 1893, at the request of the head of the Maritime Ministry N. M. Chikhachev, the scientist drew up a note “On the pool for testing ship models” and “Draft regulations on the pool”, where he interpreted the prospect of creating a pool as part of a scientific and technical program, implying not only a solution shipbuilding tasks of a military-technical and commercial profile, but also providing the opportunity to carry out scientific research.

While studying solutions, D. I. Mendeleev in the late 1880s - early 1890s showed great interest in the results of studies of the density of sea water, which were obtained by S. O. Makarov during his circumnavigation of the world on the corvette "Vityaz" in 1887-1889 years. These valuable data were extremely highly appreciated by D.I. Mendeleev, who included them in the summary table of water density values ​​at different temperatures, which he cites in his article “Change in the density of water when heated.”

Continuing the interaction with S. O. Makarov, which began during the development of gunpowder for naval artillery, D. I. Mendeleev became involved in organizing an icebreaking expedition to the Arctic Ocean.

The idea of ​​this expedition put forward by S. O. Makarov found a response from D. I. Mendeleev, who saw in such an undertaking a real way to solve many of the most important economic problems: the connection of the Bering Strait with other Russian seas would mark the beginning of the development of the Northern Sea Route, which would make areas of Siberia accessible and the Far North.

The initiatives were supported by S. Yu. Witte and already in the fall of 1897 the government decided to allocate funds for the construction of an icebreaker. D.I. Mendeleev was included in the commission that dealt with issues related to the construction of the icebreaker, of which, of several projects, the one proposed by the English company was preferred. The world's first Arctic icebreaker, built at the Armstrong Whitworth shipyard, was given the name of the legendary conqueror of Siberia - Ermak, and on October 29, 1898 it was launched on the Tyne River in England.

In 1898, D. I. Mendeleev and S. O. Makarov turned to S. Yu. Witte with a memorandum “On the study of the Arctic Ocean during the trial voyage of the icebreaker Ermak,” outlining the program of the expedition planned for the summer of 1899 , in the implementation of astronomical, magnetic, meteorological, hydrological, chemical and biological research.

The model of the icebreaker under construction in the experimental shipbuilding basin of the Maritime Ministry was subjected to tests, which included, in addition to determining the speed and power, a hydrodynamic evaluation of the propellers and a study of stability, resistance to roll loads, to weaken the effects of which a valuable technical improvement was introduced, proposed by D. I. Mendeleev, and for the first time used in the new ship.

In 1901-1902, D.I. Mendeleev created a project for an Arctic expeditionary icebreaker. The scientist developed a high-latitude “industrial” sea route, which implied the passage of ships near the North Pole.

Theme of development Far North 36 works were devoted to D.I. Mendeleev.

Metrology

Mendeleev was the forerunner of modern metrology, in particular chemical metrology. He is the author of a number of works on metrology. He created an accurate theory of scales, developed the best designs of the rocker arm and arrester, and proposed the most accurate weighing techniques.

Science begins as soon as they begin to measure. Exact science is unthinkable without measure.

D. I. Mendeleev

In 1893, D.I. Mendeleev created the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures (now the All-Russian Research Institute of Metrology named after D.I. Mendeleev);

On October 8, 1901, on the initiative of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, the first calibration tent in Ukraine for verification and marking of trade measures and weights was opened in Kharkov. This event marks the beginning of not only the history of metrology and standardization in Ukraine, but also the more than century-long history of the NSC Institute of Metrology.

Powder making

There are a number of conflicting opinions about the works of D.I. Mendeleev dedicated to smokeless gunpowder. Documentary information indicates their next development.

In May 1890, on behalf of the Naval Ministry, Vice Admiral N. M. Chikhachev invited D. I. Mendeleev to “serve in the scientific formulation of the Russian gunpowder business,” to which the scientist, who had already left the university, expressed his consent in a letter and pointed out the need for a business trip abroad with the inclusion of specialists in explosives - professor of mine officer classes I. M. Cheltsov, and manager of the pyroxylin plant L. G. Fedotov - organizing an explosives laboratory.

In London, D. I. Mendeleev met with scientists with whom he enjoyed constant authority: with F. Abel (chairman of the Committee on Explosives, who discovered cordite), J. Dewar (committee member, co-author of cordite), W. Ramsay, W. Anderson , A. Tillo and L. Mond, R. Young, J. Stokes and E. Frankland. Having visited the laboratory of U. Ramsay, the plant rapid fire weapons and Nordenfeld-Maxim gunpowder, where he himself carried out tests - the Woolwich Arsenal testing ground, he notes in his notebook: “Smokeless gunpowder: pyroxylin + nitroglycerin + castor oil; pulling, cutting scales and wire posts. They gave me samples..."). Next is Paris. French pyroxylin gunpowder was strictly classified (the technology was published only in the 1930s). Met with L. Pasteur, P. Lecoq de Boisbaudran, A. Moissan, A. Le Chatelier, M. Berthelot (one of the leaders of work on gunpowder), - with explosives specialists A. Gautier and E. Sarro (director of the Central Powder laboratories of France) and others. The scientist turned to the French Minister of War S. L. Freysinet for access to the factories - two days later E. Sarro received D. I. Mendeleev in his laboratory, showed a test of gunpowder; Arnoux and E. Sarro were given a sample (2 g) “for personal use,” but its composition and properties showed it was unsuitable for large-caliber artillery.

In mid-July 1890 in St. Petersburg, D. I. Mendeleev pointed out the need for a laboratory (opened only in the summer of 1891), and he, with N. A. Menshutkin, N. P. Fedorov, L. N. Shishkov, A. R. Shulyachenko, began experiments at the university. In the fall of 1890, at the Okhtinsky plant, he took part in testing smokeless gunpowder at various types weapons, - requested technology. In December, D.I. Mendeleev obtained soluble nitrocellulose, and in January 1891, one that “dissolves like sugar,” which he called pyrocollodium.

D.I. Mendeleev attached great importance to the industrial and economic side of gunpowder making - the use of only domestic raw materials; studied the production of sulfuric acid from local pyrites at the plant of P.K. Ushkov in the city of Elabuga, Vyatka province (where they later began to produce gunpowder in small quantities) - cotton “ends” from Russian enterprises. Production began at the Shlisselburg plant near St. Petersburg. In the fall of 1892, with the participation of the chief inspector of artillery navy Admiral S. O. Makarov, pyro-collodion gunpowder was tested, which was highly praised by military experts. In a year and a half, under the leadership of D.I. Mendeleev, pyrocollodion technology was developed - the basis of domestic smokeless gunpowder, which is superior in quality to foreign ones. After tests in 1893, Admiral S. O. Makarov confirmed the suitability of the new “smokeless potion” for use in guns of all calibers.

D.I. Mendeleev was engaged in gunpowder making until 1898. The involvement of the Bondyuzhinsky and Okhtinsky plants, and the Marine Pyroxylin Plant in St. Petersburg resulted in a confrontation between departmental and patent interests. S. O. Makarov, defending the priority of D. I. Mendeleev, notes his “major services in resolving the issue of the type of smokeless gunpowder” for the Naval Ministry, from where the scientist left the position of consultant in 1895; he seeks to remove secrecy - the “Marine Collection”, under the heading “On pyrocollodium smokeless gunpowder” (1895, 1896), publishes his articles, where, comparing various gunpowders with pyrocollodium according to 12 parameters, he states its obvious advantages, expressed by the constancy of composition, uniformity, the exception of “ traces of detonation"

The French engineer Messena, none other than an expert from the Okhtinsky Powder Plant, interested in his pyroxylin technology, obtained from also interested manufacturers recognition of the latter’s identity as pyrocollodion - D.I. Mendeleev. Instead of developing domestic research, they bought foreign patents - the right to “authorship” and production of Mendeleev’s gunpowder was appropriated to himself by a junior lieutenant of the US Navy, D. Bernado, who was then in St. Petersburg. John Baptiste Bernadou), “part-time” employee of ONI (eng. Office of Naval Intelligence- Office of Naval Intelligence), who obtained the recipe, and, having never done this before, suddenly, in 1898, became “fascinated by the development” of smokeless gunpowder, and in 1900 received a patent for “Colloidal Explosives and Its Production” (Eng. Colloid explosive and process of making same) - pyrocolloid gunpowder..., in his publications he reproduces the conclusions of D.I. Mendeleev. And Russia, “according to its eternal tradition,” during the First World War bought it, this gunpowder, in huge quantities in America, and the inventors are still listed as sailors - Lieutenant D. Bernadou and Captain J. Converse (eng. George Albert Converse).

Dmitry Ivanovich devoted 68 articles to research on the topic of powder making, based on his fundamental works on the study of aqueous solutions, and directly related to them.

About electrolytic dissociation

There is an opinion that D.I. Mendeleev “did not accept” the concept of electrolytic dissociation, that he supposedly interpreted it incorrectly, or even did not understand it at all...

D.I. Mendeleev continued to show interest in the development of the theory of solutions in the late 1880s - 1890s. This topic acquired special significance and relevance after the formulation and successful application of the theory of electrolytic dissociation (S. Arrhenius, W. Ostwald, J. Van't Hoff). D.I. Mendeleev closely monitored the development of this new theory, but refrained from any categorical assessment of it.

D.I. Mendeleev examines in detail some of the arguments that supporters of the theory of electrolytic dissociation appeal to when proving the very fact of decomposition of salts into ions, including a decrease in the freezing point and other factors determined by the properties of solutions. His “Note on the dissociation of dissolved substances” is devoted to these and other questions related to the understanding of this theory. He talks about the possibility of solvents combining with dissolved substances and their influence on the properties of solutions. Without categorically asserting, D.I. Mendeleev, at the same time, points out the need not to discount the possibility of multilateral consideration of processes: “before recognizing the dissociation into ions M + X in a solution of salt MX, it follows, in the spirit of all information about solutions, look for aqueous solutions of MX salts for exposure to H2O giving particles MOH + HX, or dissociation of MX hydrates ( n+ 1) H2O to MOH hydrates m H2O + HX ( n - m) H2O or even straight hydrates MX n H2O into individual molecules."

It follows from this that D.I. Mendeleev did not indiscriminately deny the theory itself, but rather pointed out the need for its development and understanding, taking into account the consistently developed theory of interaction between the solvent and the dissolved substance. In the notes of the section “Fundamentals of Chemistry” devoted to the topic, he writes: “... for persons wishing to study chemistry in more detail, it is very instructive to delve into the totality of information related to this, which can be found in the Zeitschrift für physikalische Chemie for the years since 1888.”

In the late 1880s, intense debate ensued between supporters and opponents of the electrolytic dissociation theory. The controversy became most acute in England, and it was connected precisely with the works of D. I. Mendeleev. Data on dilute solutions formed the basis of the arguments of supporters of the theory, while opponents turned to the results of studies of solutions in wide concentration ranges. The greatest attention was paid to solutions of sulfuric acid, well studied by D. I. Mendeleev. Many English chemists consistently developed D.I. Mendeleev’s point of view on the presence of important points in “composition-property” diagrams. This information was used in criticism of the theory of electrolytic dissociation by H. Crompton, E. Pickering, G. E. Armstrong and other scientists. Their reference to the point of view of D.I. Mendeleev and data on sulfuric acid solutions as the main arguments for their correctness was regarded by many scientists, including German ones, as a contrast to the “hydrate theory of Mendeleev” to the theory of electrolytic dissociation. This led to a biased and sharply critical perception of the positions of D. I. Mendeleev, for example, by the same V. Nernst.

While these data relate to very complex cases of equilibria in solutions, when, in addition to dissociation, molecules of sulfuric acid and water form complex polymer ions. In concentrated solutions of sulfuric acid, parallel processes of electrolytic dissociation and association of molecules occur. Even the presence of various hydrates in the H2O - H2SO4 system, revealed due to electrical conductivity (by jumps in the “composition - electrical conductivity” line), does not give reason to deny the validity of the theory of electrolytic dissociation. An awareness of the fact that the association of molecules and the dissociation of ions occurs simultaneously is required.

Mendeleev - economist and futurologist

D.I. Mendeleev was also an outstanding economist who substantiated the main directions of economic development of Russia. All his activities, be it the most abstract theoretical research, be it rigorous technological research, certainly, in one way or another, resulted in practical implementation, which always implied taking into account and a good understanding of the economic meaning.

D.I. Mendeleev saw the future of Russian industry in the development of the community and artel spirit. Specifically, he proposed reforming the Russian community so that it would carry out agricultural work in the summer and factory work in its own community factory in the winter. It was proposed to develop artel labor organization within individual plants and factories. A factory or factory in every community - “that alone can make the Russian people rich, hardworking and educated.”

Together with S. Yu. Witte took part in the development of the Customs Tariff of 1891 in Russia.

D.I. Mendeleev was an ardent supporter of protectionism and economic independence of Russia. In his works “Letters about factories”, “Intelligible tariff...” D. I. Mendeleev took the position of protecting Russian industry from competition from Western countries, linking the development of Russian industry with a common customs policy. The scientist noted the injustice of the economic order, which allows countries processing raw materials to reap the fruits of the labor of workers in countries supplying raw materials. This order, in his opinion, “gives the haves all the advantage over the have-nots.”

In his address to the public - “Justification of protectionism” (1897) and in three letters to Nicholas II (1897, 1898, 1901 - “written and sent at the request of S. Yu. Witte, who said that he alone was not able to convince”) D.I. Mendeleev sets out some of his economic views.

It indicates the feasibility of unhindered inclusion foreign investment into national industry. The scientist regards capital as a “temporary form” into which “certain aspects of industry have evolved in our century”; to some extent, like many of his contemporaries, he idealizes him, implying his function as a carrier of progress: “Wherever he comes from, he will give birth to new capital everywhere, so he will go around the entire limited globe of the Earth, bring peoples closer together and then, probably, will lose his modern significance.” . According to D.I. Mendeleev, foreign capital investments should be used, as Russian ones are accumulated, as a temporary means to achieve national goals.

Moreover, the scientist notes the need to nationalize several vital regulatory economic components and the need to create an education system as part of the state’s protective policy.

Ural expedition

Speaking about the “third service to the Motherland,” the scientist especially notes the significance of this expedition. In March 1899, D.I. Mendeleev made recommendations in a report to Comrade Minister of Finance V.N. Kokovtsev. He proposes to transfer state-owned factories that correspond to the interests of defense to the Military and Naval Ministry; other enterprises of this kind, state-owned mining plants - into private hands in the form of potential competition, to reduce prices, and for the treasury that owns ores and forests - income. The development of the Urals is hampered by the fact that “there are almost entirely only large entrepreneurs operating there, who have seized everything and everyone for themselves”; to curb them - to develop “extra large, many small enterprises"; speed up the construction of railways.

On behalf of the Minister of Finance S. Yu. Witte and the Director of the Department of Industry and Trade V. I. Kovalevsky, the leadership of the expedition was entrusted to D. I. Mendeleev; he appeals to the owners of private factories in the Urals, asking them to “contribute to the study of the situation in the iron industry.”

Despite the illness, the scientist did not refuse the trip. The expedition was attended by: Head of the Department of Mineralogy of St. Petersburg University, Professor P. A. Zemyatchensky, a well-known specialist in Russian iron ores; assistant to the head of the scientific and technical laboratory of the Maritime Ministry - chemist S. P. Vukolov; K. N. Egorov is an employee of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures. The last two were instructed by D.I. Mendeleev to “inspect many Ural factories and carry out complete magnetic measurements” to identify anomalies indicating the presence of iron ore. K.N. Egorov was also entrusted with the study of the Ekibastuz coal deposit, which, in the opinion of D.I. Mendeleev, was very important for the Ural metallurgy. The expedition was accompanied by the representative of the Ministry of State Property N.A. Salarev and the secretary of the Permanent Advisory Office of the Iron Workers V.V. Mamontov. The personal routes of the participants of the Ural expedition were determined by their tasks.

D.I. Mendeleev from Perm followed the following route: Kizel - Chusovaya - Kushva - Mount Grace - Nizhny Tagil - Mount Vysokaya - Yekaterinburg - Tyumen, by steamship - to Tobolsk. From Tobolsk by steamship - to Tyumen and further: Ekaterinburg - Bilimbaevo - Ekaterinburg - Kyshtym. After Kyshtym, D.I. Mendeleev “bleeds from the throat” - a relapse of an old illness, he lingers in Zlatoust, hoping to rest and “go back to the factories,” but there was no improvement, and he returned to Boblovo through Ufa and Samara. D.I. Mendeleev noted that even in Yekaterinburg he received a good idea of ​​the state of the iron industry in the Urals.

In his report to S. Yu. Witte, D. I. Mendeleev indicates the reasons for the slow development of metallurgy, and measures to overcome it: “Russia’s influence on the entire west of Siberia and on the steppe center of Asia can and should be accomplished through the Ural region.” D.I. Mendeleev saw the reason for the stagnation of industry in the Urals in the socio-economic archaism: “... It is necessary with special persistence to end all the remnants of the landowner relationship that still exists everywhere in the Urals in the form of peasants assigned to factories.” The administration interferes with small enterprises, but “the true development of industry is unthinkable without free competition between small and medium-sized manufacturers and large ones.” D.I. Mendeleev points out: government-sponsored monopolists are slowing down the rise of the region - “expensive prices, satisfaction with what has been achieved and a stop in development.” He would later note that it cost him "a lot of work and trouble."

In the Urals, his idea of ​​underground gasification of coal, expressed by him back in the Donbass (1888), and to which he returned more than once, was justified (“Combustible materials” - 1893, “Fundamentals of the factory industry” - 1897, “The doctrine of industry” - 1900 -1901).

Participation in the study of the Ural iron industry is one of the most important stages in the activity of Mendeleev the economist. In his work “Towards Knowledge of Russia” he will say: “In my life I had to take part in the fate of three...businesses: oil, coal and iron ore.” From the Ural expedition the scientist brought invaluable material, which he later used in his works “The Study of Industry” and “Towards the Knowledge of Russia.”

Towards knowledge of Russia

In 1906, D.I. Mendeleev, being a witness to the first Russian revolution, and sensitively reacting to what was happening, seeing the approach of great changes, wrote his last major work, “Towards the Knowledge of Russia.” Population issues occupy an important place in this work; In his conclusions, the scientist relies on a scrupulous analysis of the population census results. D.I. Mendeleev processes statistical tables with his characteristic thoroughness and skill as a researcher who has complete command of the mathematical apparatus and methods of calculation.

A fairly important component was the calculation of the two centers of Russia present in the book - the surface and the population. For Russia, the clarification of the territorial center of the state, the most important geopolitical parameter, was made for the first time by D. I. Mendeleev. The scientist included in the publication a map of a new projection, which reflected the idea of ​​a unified industrial and cultural development of the European and Asian parts of the country, which was supposed to serve to bring the two centers closer together.

Mendeleev on demographic growth

The scientist clearly shows his attitude to this issue in the context of his beliefs as a whole with the following words: “The highest goal of politics is most clearly expressed in the development of conditions for human reproduction.”

At the beginning of the 20th century, Mendeleev, noting that the population of the Russian Empire had doubled over the past forty years, calculated that by 2050 its population, while maintaining existing growth, would reach 800 million people. For information about what actually exists, see the article Demographic situation in Russian Federation.

Objective historical circumstances (primarily wars, revolutions and their consequences) made adjustments to the scientist’s calculations, however, the indicators he arrived at regarding regions and peoples, for one reason or another, less affected by the named unpredictable factors, confirm the validity of his forecasts.

Three services to the Motherland

In a private letter to S. Yu. Witte, which remained unsent, D. I. Mendeleev, stating and assessing his many years of activity, calls “three services to the Motherland”:

These directions in the multifaceted work of the scientist are closely connected with each other.

Logical-thematic paradigm of the scientist’s creativity

All scientific, philosophical and journalistic works of D. I. Mendeleev are proposed to be considered integrally - in comparing the sections of this great heritage both from the point of view of the “weight” in it individual disciplines, directions and themes, and in the interaction of its main and particular components.

The director of the Museum-Archive of D. I. Mendeleev (LSU), Professor R. B. Dobrotin, developed a method in the 1970s that implies such a holistic approach to assessing the work of D. I. Mendeleev, taking into account the specific historical conditions in which it developed. Over the course of many years, studying and consistently comparing sections of this huge code, R. B. Dobrotin step by step revealed the internal logical connection of all its small and large parts; This was facilitated by the opportunity to work directly with the materials of the unique archive, and communication with many recognized specialists in various disciplines. The untimely death of a talented researcher did not allow him to fully develop this interesting undertaking, which in many ways anticipated the possibilities of both modern scientific methodology and new information technologies.

Constructed like a family tree, the diagram structurally reflects the thematic classification and allows us to trace the logical and morphological connections between in various directions creativity of D. I. Mendeleev.

Analysis of numerous logical connections allows us to identify 7 main areas of activity of the scientist - 7 sectors:

• Periodic law, pedagogy, education.
• Organic chemistry, the doctrine of limiting forms of compounds.
• Solutions, oil technology and economics of the oil industry.
• Physics of liquids and gases, meteorology, aeronautics, environmental resistance, shipbuilding, development of the Far North.
• Standards, issues of metrology.
• Solid state chemistry, solid fuel and glass technology.
• Biology, medicinal chemistry, agrochemistry, agriculture.

Each sector corresponds not to one topic, but to a logical chain of related topics - a “stream of scientific activity” that has a certain focus; the chains are not completely isolated - numerous connections can be traced between them (lines crossing the boundaries of sectors).

Thematic headings are presented in the form of circles (31). The number inside the circle corresponds to the number of works on the topic. Central - corresponds to the group of early works of D.I. Mendeleev, where research in various fields originates. The lines connecting the circles show connections between topics.

The circles are distributed in three concentric rings, corresponding to three aspects of activity: internal - theoretical work; secondary - technology, engineering and applied issues; external - articles, books and speeches on problems of economics, industry and education. The block located behind the outer ring, and combining 73 works on general issues socio-economic and philosophical nature, completes the scheme. This construction makes it possible to observe how a scientist in his work moves from one or another scientific idea to its technical development (lines from the inner ring), and from there to the solution of economic problems (lines from the middle ring).

The absence of symbols in the publication “Chronicles of the life and work of D. I. Mendeleev” (“Science”, 1984), on the creation of which R. B. Dobrotin also worked at the first stage († 1980), also determines the lack of semantic-semiotic connection with the proposed scientist system. However, in the preface of this informative book it is noted that this “work can be considered as a sketch of the scientific biography of the scientist.”

D. I. Mendeleev and the world

The scientific interests and contacts of D. I. Mendeleev were very wide, he went on business trips many times, made many private trips and travels

He rose to transcendental heights and descended into mines, visited hundreds of plants and factories, universities, institutes and scientific societies, met, debated, collaborated and simply talked, shared his thoughts with hundreds of scientists, artists, peasants, entrepreneurs, workers and craftsmen, writers , statesmen and politicians. I took a lot of photographs and bought a lot of books and reproductions. The almost completely preserved library includes about 20 thousand publications, and the partially surviving huge archive and collection of visual and reproductive materials contain a lot of heterogeneous printed storage units, diaries, workbooks, notebooks, manuscripts and extensive correspondence with Russian and foreign scientists, public figures and other correspondents.

In European Russia, the Caucasus, the Urals and Siberia

Novgorod, Yuryev, Pskov, Dvinsk, Koenigsberg, Vilno, Eidkunen, Kiev, Serdobol, Imatra, Kexholm, Priozersk, St. Petersburg, Kronstadt, Myakishevo, Dorokhovo, Konchanskoye, Borovichi, Mlevo, Konstantinovo, Yaroslavl, Tver, Klin, Boblovo, Tarakanovo, Shakhmatovo, Moscow, Kuskovo, Tula, Orel, Tambov, Kromy, Saratov, Slavyansk, Lisichansk, Tsaritsyn, Kramatorskaya, Loskutovka, Lugansk, Mortars, Maryevka, Bakhmut, Golubovka, Khatsapetovka, Kamenskaya, Yashikovskaya, Gorlovka, Debaltsevo, Yasinovatoe, Yuzovka, Khartsyzskaya, Makeevka, Simbirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Bogodukhovka, Grushevka, Maksimovka, Nikolaev, Odessa, Kherson, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol, Tikhoretskaya, Ekaterinodar, Novorossiysk, Astrakhan, Mineralnye Vody, Pyatigorsk, Kizlyar, Grozny, Petrovsk- Port, Temir-Khan-Shura, Derbent, Sukhum, Kutais, Mtskheta, Shemakha, Surakhany, Poti, Tiflis, Baku, Batum, Elizavetpol, Kizel, Tobolsk, Chusovoy, Kushva, Perm, Nizhny Tagil, Kazan, Elabuga, Tyumen, Yekaterinburg , Kyshtym, Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk, Miass, Samara

Foreign trips and travel

Visiting in individual years been to Germany many times - 32 times, France 33 times, Switzerland - 10 times, Italy 6 times, Holland three times, and Belgium twice, Austria-Hungary - 8 times, England 11 times, been to Spain, Sweden and the USA. Regularly traveling through Poland (at that time part of the Russian Empire) to Western Europe, he made special visits there twice.

Here are the cities in these countries that are in one way or another connected with the life and work of D. I. Mendeleev:

Confession

Awards, academies and societies

• Order of St. Vladimir, 1st class
• Order of St. Vladimir, II degree
• Order of St. Alexander Nevsky
• Order of the White Eagle
• Order of St. Anne, 1st class
• Order of St. Anne, 2nd class
• Order of St. Stanislaus, 1st class
• Legion of Honor

The scientific authority of D.I. Mendeleev was enormous. The list of his titles and ranks includes more than a hundred items. Almost all Russian and most of the most respected foreign academies, universities and scientific societies elected him honorary member. However, he signed his works, private and official appeals without indicating his involvement in them: “D. Mendeleev" or "Professor Mendeleev", rarely mentioning any honorary titles awarded to him.

D. I. Mendeleev - Doctor of the Turin Academy of Sciences (1893) and the University of Cambridge (1894), Doctor of Chemistry of St. Petersburg University (1865), Doctor of Laws of Edinburgh (1884) and Princeton (1896) Universities, University of Glasgow (1904), Doctor civil law from the University of Oxford (1894), Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Liberal Arts from the University of Göttingen (1887); Member of the Royal Societies: London (Royal Society for the Promotion of natural sciences, 1892), Edinburgh (1888), Dublin (1886); member of the Academies of Sciences: Rome (Accademia dei Lincei, 1893), Royal Academy of Sciences of Sweden (1905), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1889), National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (Boston, 1903), Royal Danish Academy of Sciences (Copenhagen, 1889 ), Irish Royal Academy (1889), South Slavic (Zagreb), Czech Academy of Sciences, Literature and Arts (1891), Krakow (1891), Belgian Academy of Sciences, Literature and Fine Arts (accocié, 1896), Academy of Arts (St. -Petersburg, 1893); honorary member of the Royal Institution of Great Britain (1891); corresponding member of the St. Petersburg (1876), Paris (1899), Prussian (1900), Hungarian (1900), Bologna (1901), Serbian (1904) academies of sciences; honorary member of Moscow (1880), Kiev (1880), Kazan (1880), Kharkov (1880), Novorossiysk (1880), Yuryevsky (1902), St. Petersburg (1903), Tomsk (1904) universities, as well as the Institute of Agriculture economy and forestry in New Alexandria (1895), St. Petersburg Technological (1904) and St. Petersburg polytechnic institutes, St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical (1869) and Petrovsky Agricultural and Forestry Academy (1881), Moscow Technical School (1880).

D. I. Mendeleev was elected as an honorary member of the Russian Physical-Chemical (1880), Russian Technical (1881), Russian Astronomical (1900), St. Petersburg Mineralogical (1890) societies, and about 30 more agricultural, medical, pharmaceutical and others Russian societies- independent and university: Society of Biological Chemistry (International Association for the Promotion of Research, 1899), Society of Natural Scientists in Braunschweig (1888), English (1883), American (1889), German (1894) chemical societies, Physical Society in Frankfurt am Main (1875) and the Society of Physical Sciences in Bucharest (1899), the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (1888), the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (1893), the Royal Society of Sciences and Letters in Gothenburg (1886), the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society (1889 ) and the Cambridge Philosophical (1897) Society, the Royal Philosophical Society in Glasgow (1904), the Scientific Society of Antonio Alzate (Mexico City, 1904), the International Committee of Weights and Measures (1901) and many other domestic and foreign scientific institutions.

The scientist was awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal Society of London (1882), the Medal of the Academy of Meteorological Aerostatics (Paris, 1884), the Faraday Medal of the English Chemical Society (1889), the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London (1905) and many other awards.

Mendeleev Congresses

Mendeleev Congresses are the largest traditional all-Russian and international scientific forums devoted to issues of general (“pure”) and applied chemistry. They differ from other similar events not only in scale, but also in the fact that they are devoted not to individual areas of science, but to all areas of chemistry, chemical technology, industry, as well as related areas of natural science and industries. Congresses have been held in Russia on the initiative of the Russian Chemical Society since 1907 (I Congress; II Congress - 1911); in the RSFSR and the USSR - under the auspices of the Russian Chemical Society and the Russian Academy of Sciences (from 1925 - the USSR Academy of Sciences, and from 1991 - the Russian Academy of Sciences: III Congress - 1922). After the VII Congress, held in 1934, there was a 25-year break - the VIII Congress was held only in 1959.

The last XVIII Congress, held in Moscow in 2007, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of this event itself, was a “record” - 3850 participants from Russia, seven CIS countries and seventeen foreign countries. The largest number of reports in the entire history of the event was 2173. 440 people spoke at the meetings. There were more than 13,500 authors, including co-authors and speakers.

Mendeleev readings

In 1940, the board of the All-Union Chemical Society named after. D.I. Mendeleev (WHO) Mendeleev Readings were established - annual reports by leading domestic chemists and representatives of related sciences (physicists, biologists and biochemists). Held since 1941 in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg state university, in the Great Chemical Auditorium of the Faculty of Chemistry of St. Petersburg State University on the days close to the birthday of D. I. Mendeleev (February 8, 1834) and the date of his dispatch of the message about the discovery of the periodic law (March 1869). Not carried out during the Great Patriotic War; resumed in 1947 by the Leningrad branch of the VChO and Leningrad University on the anniversary of the 40th anniversary of the death of D. I. Mendeleev. They were not held in 1953. In 1968, in connection with the centenary of the discovery of the periodic law by D.I. Mendeleev, three readings were held: one in March and two in October. The only criteria for participation in the readings are an outstanding contribution to science and a doctorate degree. Mendeleev readings were conducted by presidents and vice-presidents of the USSR Academy of Sciences, full members and corresponding members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences, ministers, Nobel laureates, and professors.

The USSR Academy of Sciences established the prize in 1934 and in 1962 - Gold medal named after D.I. Mendeleev for the best works in chemistry and chemical technology.

Nobel epic

The classification of secrecy, which allows the circumstances of the nomination and consideration of candidates to be made public, implies a period of half a century, that is, what happened in the first decade of the 20th century in the Nobel Committee was known already in the 1960s.

Foreign scientists nominated Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev for the Nobel Prize in 1905, 1906 and 1907 (compatriots never). The status of the award implied a qualification: the discovery was no more than 30 years old. But the fundamental importance of the periodic law was confirmed precisely at the beginning of the 20th century, with the discovery of inert gases. In 1905, D. I. Mendeleev’s candidacy was on the “small list” - with the German organic chemist Adolf Bayer, who became the laureate. In 1906, it was put forward by an even larger number of foreign scientists. The Nobel Committee awarded D. I. Mendeleev the prize, but the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences refused to approve this decision, in which the influence of S. Arrhenius, the 1903 laureate for the theory of electrolytic dissociation, played a decisive role - as stated above, there was a misconception about the rejection of this theory by D. I. Mendeleev; The laureate was the French scientist A. Moissan - for the discovery of fluorine. In 1907, it was proposed to “share” the prize between the Italian S. Cannizzaro and D.I. Mendeleev (Russian scientists again did not participate in his nomination). However, on February 2, the scientist passed away.

Meanwhile, we should not forget about the conflict between D.I. Mendeleev and the Nobel brothers (during the 1880s), who, taking advantage of the crisis in the oil industry and striving for a monopoly on Baku oil, on its production and distillation, speculated for this purpose “rumors breathing with intrigue” about her exhaustion. At the same time, D.I. Mendeleev, while conducting research on the composition of oil from different fields, developed a new method of fractional distillation, which made it possible to achieve the separation of mixtures of volatile substances. He conducted a long polemic with L. E. Nobel and his associates, fighting against the predatory consumption of hydrocarbons, with ideas and methods that contributed to this; among other things, to the great displeasure of his opponent, who used not entirely plausible methods to assert his interests, he proved the groundlessness of the opinion about the impoverishment of the Caspian sources. By the way, it was D.I. Mendeleev who proposed the construction of oil pipelines back in the 1860s, which were successfully introduced in the 1880s by the Nobels, who, however, reacted extremely negatively to his proposal for delivering crude oil in this and other ways to the Central Russia, because, well aware of the benefits in this for the state as a whole, they also saw the damage to their own monopoly. D. I. Mendeleev devoted about 150 works to oil (the study of composition and properties, distillation and other issues related to this topic).

D. I. Mendeleev in marginal history

As is known, under the influence of certain social and corporate trends, oral history tends to transform individual facts and phenomena that took place in reality, giving them varying degrees anecdotal, popular or cartoonish features. These distortions, whether they are of a profane nature, resulting from a lack of competent ideas about the true state of affairs, little awareness of issues related to the subject of the story, whether they are a product of the implementation of any tasks, often of a defamatory, provocative or advertising nature, remain relatively harmless in moral sense until they receive recording in the field of official biblio-electronic information carriers, which contribute to their acquisition of almost academic status.

The most widespread interpretations are of episodes from the life of D. I. Mendeleev associated with his research on alcohol solutions, with the “solitaire” of the periodic law, which he allegedly saw in a dream, and with the “production of suitcases.”

About the dreamed periodic table of elements

For a very long time, D.I. Mendeleev could not present his ideas about the periodic system of elements in the form of a clear generalization, a strict and visual system. One day, after three days of hard work, he lay down to rest and fell asleep. Then he said: “I clearly see in a dream a table where the elements are arranged as needed. I woke up, immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper and fell asleep again. Only in one place was an amendment subsequently necessary.” A. A. Inostrantsev, in approximately the same words, reproducing what D. I. Mendeleev himself told him, saw in this phenomenon “one of the excellent examples of the mental impact of increased brain function on the human mind.” This story gave rise to a lot of scientific interpretations and myths. At the same time, the scientist himself, when asked by a Petersburg Leaf reporter about how the idea of ​​a periodic system was born, answered: “...Not a nickel for a line! Not like you! I’ve been thinking about it for maybe twenty-five years, and you think: I was sitting there, and suddenly a nickel for a line, a nickel for a line, and it’s done...!”

"Chemists"

At a time when chemistry in the philistine environment was interpreted as a not entirely clear purpose, a rather “dark” activity (which is close to one of the versions of the etymology), “chemists” were colloquially called dodgers, rogues and criminals. This fact is illustrated by such an incident from the life of D.I. Mendeleev, which he himself told about: “I was once riding in a cab, and the police were leading a bunch of crooks towards me. My cab driver turns around and says: “Look, they’ve taken the chemists.”

This “term” received a unique development and refraction in the USSR in the second half of the 20th century, when the Soviet penitentiary system carried out a practice that implied that citizens convicted of relatively minor crimes would serve their sentences within production zones (initially only of a chemical profile, later - to varying degrees of harmful for the health of industrial institutions). This punishment was called “chemistry”, and all those subjected to this form of isolation, regardless of the ownership of the industries where they were located, were also called “chemists”.

Suitcases of D. I. Mendeleev

There are all kinds of legends, fables and anecdotes telling about the “production of suitcases” for which D. I. Mendeleev allegedly became famous. Indeed, Dmitry Ivanovich acquired some experience in bookbinding and cardboard work during the time of his involuntary inactivity in Simferopol, when, due to the Crimean War and the closure of the gymnasium located near the theater of military operations, he was forced to while away the time by doing this work. Later, having already had a huge archive, which included a lot of documents, reproductions, photographs taken by the scientist himself (he did this with great enthusiasm, taking a lot of photographs during his trips and travels), printed materials and samples of the epistolary genre, he periodically glued them together on his own in general, simple, unpretentious cardboard containers. And in this matter he achieved a certain skill - even the small but durable cardboard bench he made has been preserved.

There is one “reliable” anecdote, which probably gave rise to all the others related to this topic. He usually made purchases of materials for his classes of this kind in Gostiny Dvor. One day, when the scientist went into a hardware store for this purpose, he heard the following dialogue behind him: “Who is this venerable gentleman?” - “Don’t you really know? This is the famous suitcase master Mendeleev,” the seller answered with respect in his voice.

The legend of the invention of vodka

In 1865, Dmitry Mendeleev defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Discourse on the combination of alcohol with water,” which had nothing to do with vodka. Mendeleev, contrary to the prevailing legend, did not invent vodka; it existed long before him.

The Russian Standard label states that this vodka “meets the standard of Russian vodka highest quality, approved by the tsarist government commission headed by D.I. Mendeleev in 1894.” The name of Mendeleev is associated with the choice of vodka with a strength of 40°. According to the Vodka Museum in St. Petersburg, Mendeleev considered the ideal strength of vodka to be 38°, but this number was rounded to 40 to simplify the calculation of alcohol taxes.

However, it is not possible to find a justification for this choice in the works of Mendeleev. Mendeleev's dissertation on the properties of mixtures of alcohol and water does not distinguish 40° or 38°. Moreover, Mendeleev's dissertation was devoted to the region of high alcohol concentrations - from 70°. The “Tsarist Government Commission” could not establish this standard for vodka, if only because this organization - the Commission for finding ways to streamline the production and trade circulation of drinks containing alcohol - was formed at the suggestion of S. Yu. Witte only in 1895 Moreover, Mendeleev spoke at its meetings at the very end of the year and only on the issue of excise taxes.

Where did 1894 come from? Apparently, from an article by historian William Pokhlebkin, who wrote that “30 years after writing the dissertation... agrees to join the commission.” The manufacturers of the “Russian Standard” added a metaphorical 30 to 1864 and obtained the desired value.

The director of the D.I. Mendeleev Museum, Doctor of Chemical Sciences Igor Dmitriev, said the following about 40-proof vodka:

Addresses of D. I. Mendeleev in St. Petersburg

Monuments to D. I. Mendeleev

Monuments of Federal significance

• Architectural monuments of Federal significance
• Service office in the building of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures - Zabalkansky (now Moskovsky) Avenue, 19, building 1. - Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. No. 7810077000 // Website “Objects of cultural heritage (historical and cultural monuments) of the peoples of the Russian Federation.” Verified
• • Residential building of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures - Zabalkansky (now Moskovsky) Avenue, 19, building 4, apt. 5. Arch. von Gauguin A.I. - Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. No. 7810078000 // Website “Objects of cultural heritage (historical and cultural monuments) of the peoples of the Russian Federation.” Verified
• Monuments of monumental art of Federal significance
• Monument to the chemist D. I. Mendeleev. St. Petersburg, Moskovsky Avenue, 19. Sculptor I. Ya. Ginzburg. The monument was opened on February 2, 1932. - Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. No. 7810076000 // Website “Objects of cultural heritage (historical and cultural monuments) of the peoples of the Russian Federation”. Verified

Memory of D.I. Mendeleev

Museums

• Museum-archive of D. I. Mendeleev at St. Petersburg State University
• Museum-Estate of D. I. Mendeleev “Boblovo”
• Museum of the State Standard of Russia at VNIIM named after. D. I. Mendeleev

Settlements and stations

• City of Mendeleevsk (Republic of Tatarstan).
• Mendeleevo village (Solnechnogorsk district, Moscow region).
• Railway station Mendeleevo (Karagaisky municipal district Perm region).
• Mendeleevskaya metro station (Moscow).
• The village of Mendeleevo (Tobolsk district, Tyumen region).
• The village of Mendeleev (former Dzyomgi camp) in the Leninsky district of Komsomolsk-on-Amur (Khabarovsk Territory).

Geography and astronomy

• Mendeleev Glacier (Kyrgyzstan), on the northern slope of Mendeleevets Peak
• Mendeleev Crater on the Moon
• Underwater Mendeleev Ridge in the Arctic Ocean
• Mendeleev Volcano (Kunashir Island)
• Asteroid Mendeleev (asteroid No. 12190)
• Geographical center of the Russian State (calculated by D.I. Mendeleev, the right bank of the Taz River near the village of Kikkiaki). Fixed on the territory of NSE named after. I. D. Papanin in 1983.

Educational establishments

• Russian Chemical-Technological University named after D.I. Mendeleev (Moscow).
• Novomoskovsk Institute of Russian Chemical Technical University named after D.I. Mendeleev (Novomoskovsk, Tula region).
• Tobolsk State Social and Pedagogical Academy named after. D. I. Mendeleev

Societies, conventions, magazines

• Russian Chemical Society named after D. I. Mendeleev
• Mendeleev Congresses on General and Applied Chemistry

Industrial enterprises

• Oil refinery named after D.I. Mendeleev in the village of Konstantinovsky (Tutaevsky district, Yaroslavl region).

Literature

• O. Pisarzhevsky “Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev” (1949; Stalin Prize, 1951)

Bonistics, numismatics, philately, sigillaty

• In 1984, on the 150th anniversary of Mendeleev’s birth, a commemorative ruble was issued in the USSR.
• Mendeleev is depicted on front side 100 Ural francs notes issued in 1991.

I am a chemist, I graduated from the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology (now, of course, the University), Faculty of Chemical Technology Engineering, briefly - ICT. We, graduates of the Mendeleev Institute of different graduations, felt some kind of brotherhood, because we studied under the auspices of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev. At school we met with the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements, more simply, with the Periodic Table; we knew that Mendeleev, in addition to chemistry, studied physical chemistry, geology, physics, economics, and solved technological problems, i.e. was a wonderful, brilliant scientist. But what he was like in life, we didn’t think about it then.

Fascinated by the poems of Alexander Blok, I learned that little Sasha Blok, the grandson of the chemist Beketov, and Lyubochka Mendeleeva, Mendeleev’s daughter, grew up together, then grew up, and having met in adulthood, felt an interest in each other and got married. The marriage was not very successful. complicated, but that's another story. And just recently I read that Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev had two families: his first wife with the amazing name Feozva bore him three children: Maria, Vladimir and Olga. Maria died in infancy, but Volodya grew up and pleased his father with his academic success.

Volodya Mendeleev (1865 - 1898) and his mother Feozva (Fiza) Nikitichna, born. Leshcheva.

The boy walks in the garden and reads books, takes up photography with his father; he dreams of the sea and is preparing to enter the Naval School. His father encourages him to study seriously; he knows that from the Naval School they go not only to the navy, but also to science, and to get used to serious scientific literature needed from a young age.
http://www.library.spbu.ru/bbk/bookcoll/priormat/p15.php.

Volodya connected his life with the sea. he graduated from the Naval School and served as an officer in the navy. In 1890, he was assigned to the frigate "Memory of Azov", on which Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich (future Emperor Nicholas II) was supposed to go to Greece, Egypt, and India. Ceylon, Hong Kong and at the end of the trip to Japan. The highest visit ended in a scandal: one of the police, motivated by samurai complexes, wounded the Tsarevich with a sword. During the investigation of this incident, Vladimir worked as a photographer in the investigation team, because... his father taught him the principles of photography. At this time, Vladimir, living in Nagasaki, entered into a temporary marriage with a Japanese woman. This was a common procedure for European sailors. In 1893, Vladimir and his wife Taki Hideshima had a daughter, Ofuji, whom Vladimir never saw because "Memory of Azov" returned to Russia. Vladimir retired in Russia. became an inspector of maritime education and married the daughter of the painter K. Lemokh, Varvara. In 1898 he contracted influenza and died. DI. Mendeleev always remembered the “Japanese granddaughter”; he received a letter from Taki, and after the death of his beloved son, Mendeleev sent money to Japan. By the way, he was also on the deck of the frigate “Memory of Azov” among the persons accompanying Tsarevich Nicholas.

Vladimir Mendeleev (1865 - 1898). Vladimir's Japanese wife with daughter Ofuji.

Vladimir died suddenly on December 19, 1898. “My clever, loving, gentle, good-natured first-born son, on whom I counted part of my behests, died, since I knew lofty and truthful, modest and at the same time deep thoughts for the benefit of the homeland, unknown to others, with which he was imbued." - wrote D.I. Mendeleev.
in 1899, he prepared for publication Vladimir’s unfinished work “Project for raising the level of the Azov Sea by damming the Kerch Strait.”

Olga Mendeleeva (1868 - 1950), Trirogova.

Vladimir's younger sister, Olga Dmitrievna Mendeleeva, in her marriage to Trirogova (1868 - 1950), bred hunting dogs before the revolution, and after the revolution she worked with service dogs. She wrote a book about her family, which was published in 1947. These are the children of D.I. Mendeleev from his first marriage. But at the age of 43, Dmitry Ivanovich fell passionately in love with a young girl of eighteen, Anna Popova from Uryupinsk (daughter of a Cossack). There were four children in this marriage: Lyubov (born 1881), Ivan (born 1883), twins Maria and Vasily (born 1886).
Lyubov Dmitrievna graduated from the Higher Women's Courses, studied in drama clubs, and had extraordinary acting abilities. In 1907 - 1908 she played in the troupe of V.E. Meyerhold and at the V.F. Theater Komissarzhevskaya. In 1903, Lyubov married the poet Alexander Blok. She was the heroine of his poems dedicated to the Beautiful Lady. Lyubov Dmitrievna died in 1939: she was walking across the room and fell, already dead.
Ivan Dmitrievich (1883-1936) was perhaps the most creatively gifted person. He helped his aging father a lot, for example, he performed complex calculations for his economic works. Thanks to Ivan, a posthumous edition of the scientist’s work “Addition to the Knowledge of Russia” was published. From 1924 until his death, Ivan worked in the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures, thus continuing his father’s work. Here he conducted research on the theory of scales and the design of thermostats. He was one of the first in the USSR to study the properties of heavy water. From a young age, Ivan was no stranger to philosophical problems.. There was complete mutual understanding and trust between father and son. Ivan Dmitrievich died in 1936.

Anna Mendeleeva - second wife of Lyubov Mendeleeva (1881 - 1939)
DI. Mendeleev.

Ivan Mendeleev (1883-1936) Vasily Mendeleev (1886 - 1922).

Little is known about Dmitry Ivanovich’s youngest son, Vasily (1886 - 1922): he entered the Marine Engineering School in Kronstadt, but did not graduate. He was also a creative person, he worked as a designer at St. Petersburg shipyards, developing projects for submarines and minelayers. It is known that Vasily Mendeleev developed a model of a super-heavy tank. However, against the will of his mother, Vasily married a simple girl Fena. Over time, he quit his job, and he and Fenya went to her relatives in Kuban, where he died of typhus in 1922. His twin sister Maria graduated from the Higher Women's Agricultural Courses and worked for a long time as a teacher in various technical schools. She was considered a major specialist in breeding pointing dogs, and after the war she was in charge of her father’s museum at Leningrad University. She had a daughter, Ekaterina Kamenskaya, in 1983 she was still alive. She searched for her calling for a long time. tried to become an artist, actress, then entered the history department of Leningrad University and became a specialist in the history and culture of the peoples of Polynesia. At one time she worked in the Kunstkamera. At the beginning of the 21st century, her son Alexander, the great-grandson of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, was still alive. He could be about 73 years old now.

Granddaughter of D.I. Mendeleev - Ekaterina She is with her son Alexander.
Kamenskaya.
http://scandaly.ru/2013/10/25/himiya-sudbyi/
Unfortunately, the fate of Ekaterina Mendeleeva-Kamenskaya is very sad. At first everything was fine: studies, husbands, son. Mom works at the D.I. Mendeleev Museum. This is Catherine’s home. She took all D.I.’s valuables there. Mendeleev. They have become museum treasures. And in her old age she found herself without a livelihood, and her grandfather’s things belonged to the state. It didn’t even remember about the scientist’s granddaughter. The fate of Sasha, Mendeleev’s great-grandson, is even sadder: he was in prison for fighting, then he couldn’t get a job, he drank. Further fate is unknown.