Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev was born on February 8, 1834 in Tobolsk in the far west of Siberia. He was the youngest of the 14 or 17 children (depending on sources one reads). His father, Ivan, a headmaster of a local school, went blind after Dmitri's birth, so his mother was forced to work in their glass factory.
In his early teens, his father died followed by the burning down of their glass factory. In extreme poverty, his mother wouldn't give up her dreams for her son. They traveled to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg. Finally, in 1850, aged 16, he was accepted at the Central Pedagogic Institute.
Aged 20, Dmitri Mendeleev published his first scientific article "Chemical Analysis of a Sample from Finland." This article was the first mark of an amazing scientist. A year later, Mendeleev earned the Student of the Year Award by the institute, a great honor deserved.
Along with the award, Mendeleev received his first teaching position which was on the Crimean Peninsula. It lasted a year with the Crimean War in full swing.
He arrived back in St. Petersburg, ready to begin his science career. At the same time he got a teaching position at St. Petersburg University. A feat for a young 22-year-old, he also started earning for his advanced degree in chemistry.
Mendeleev and the Periodic Table
In 1869, Mendeleev published a unique table of the 61 elements known and provided some gaps for future undiscovered elements. And as known today, his prediction was right. He arranged the elements as functions of their atomic weights or relative atomic mass.
Since Mendeleev's time, new developments came up. In the modern periodic table, elements are no longer arranged by atomic weights but by the quantity atomic number.
As a teacher of general chemistry, Mendeleev was unable to find an appropriate textbook and began writing his own. The textbook, The Principles of Chemistry, in two volumes, written between 1868 and 1870, provided a framework for modern chemical and physical theory.
When nearly 60 years old, Mendeleev retired from his teaching position at the St. Petersburg University. By then, he had been a part of the university for more than 40 years.
Mendeleev Final Years
A year before his death, Mendeleev published "A Project for a School for Teachers" and "Toward Knowledge of Russia." Both articles highlight his deepest passions he carried throughout his entire life: education and his homeland Russia. Teaching to him was a way of sharing his passion for science and enlightening future generations.
Dmitri Mendeleev, educator and scientist, died peacefully on January 20, 1907, while listening to a reading of Journey to the North Pole by Jules Verne.
Mendeleev's Educational Legacy
He devised the method of classifying the basic building blocks of matter known as the Periodic Table of Elements. While there were several attempts from other scientists to arrange the elements, it was Mendeleev, who by providing gaps in his table for future elements, was able to predict the discovery of new elements with better accuracy.
And chemistry classroom or laboratory is not complete without a Mendeleev periodic table.
In his last lecture at the University of St. Petersburg Mendeleev said:
"I have achieved an inner freedom. There is nothing in this world that I fear to say. This is a good feeling… it is my moral responsibility to help you achieve this inner freedom. I am an evolutionist of a peaceable type. Proceed in a logical and systematic manner." (Source: D.Q. Posin, Mendeleev, The Story of a Great Chemist, Whittlesey House, New York, 1948.)
