His life...
Once there lived and existed a great learned man with a beard almost as long as God's. And one day the people came to this man and said 'Go to the Lord, and tell him of our misery.'
'I will go,' said the man. So he caught a great bubble, and sat down on top of it, and flew up and up until he pierced the heaven above us. And there he saw God and told him of our misery and God pardoned our sins and lightened our burdens. Then the great bearded man came down from the heavens and the people were happy. And for this, the authorities and the tsar made this man a very great scientist. [Link]
Mendeleev was born in Tobolsk (in Siberia), Russia on February 7th, 1834, and was the youngest of a family of 10~17 children (the exact number is disputed). Mendeleev's father, Ivan Pavlovitch Mendeleev, was the director of the Tobolsk Gymnasium (high school), and Mendeleev studied there until he graduated in 1850, as a student with good science and mathematical abilities, but lacking in languages and literature, which he thought of as unnecessary. Mendeleev's interest in science developed due to the teachings of scientific theories and knowledge known at the time from his brother-in-law, Bessargin. Despite the many brothers and sisters Mendeleev had, he lived a happy and comfortable life until his father's death.
When Mendeleev's father passed away, and Mendeleev's mother could find no means to give her son a good education, she moved to St Petersburg, where she enrolled Mendeleev at the Main Pedagogical Institute, the same Institute that his father had graduated from. Although his marks weren't very good, he was a hard worker, and his areas of study ranged from chemistry to aeronautics to Arctic exploration to demographics. Soon, Mendeleev's hard work paid off; he graduated in 1855 with a gold medal for excellence, and his extensive knowledge in science astounded the administrators at the Institute.
In 1856 Mendeleev obtained a master's degree in chemistry. Mendeleev was made a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at St Petersburg University in 1865, and was a lecturer at the University from 1867 to 1890. However, when he was lecturing his students, he felt that he needed to have another resource to give to his students, and published a textbook, Principles of Chemistry. The process of writing and developing this textbook was what had led Mendeleev to his most famous discovery; the discovery of the Periodic Table and the Periodic Law (1869).
Mendeleev had 2 wives. His first wife, Feozva Nikitchna Lascheva, was suggested to him by his sister, Olga. Pressured by her, they married in 1862, having two children: a boy named Volodya, and a daughter named Olga (after Mendeleev’s sister). However, the marriage was an unhappy one, and soon Mendeleev divorced her to marry his niece’s best friend, Anna Ivanovna Popov, whom he had fallen hopelessly in love with. Anna was very young when she married Mendeleev, but they were happy together, and had four children: Liubov, Ivan, and twins Vassili and Maria.
Mendeleev passed away from pneumonia in St. Petersburg on January 20th, 1907.
When Mendeleev's father passed away, and Mendeleev's mother could find no means to give her son a good education, she moved to St Petersburg, where she enrolled Mendeleev at the Main Pedagogical Institute, the same Institute that his father had graduated from. Although his marks weren't very good, he was a hard worker, and his areas of study ranged from chemistry to aeronautics to Arctic exploration to demographics. Soon, Mendeleev's hard work paid off; he graduated in 1855 with a gold medal for excellence, and his extensive knowledge in science astounded the administrators at the Institute.
In 1856 Mendeleev obtained a master's degree in chemistry. Mendeleev was made a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at St Petersburg University in 1865, and was a lecturer at the University from 1867 to 1890. However, when he was lecturing his students, he felt that he needed to have another resource to give to his students, and published a textbook, Principles of Chemistry. The process of writing and developing this textbook was what had led Mendeleev to his most famous discovery; the discovery of the Periodic Table and the Periodic Law (1869).
Mendeleev had 2 wives. His first wife, Feozva Nikitchna Lascheva, was suggested to him by his sister, Olga. Pressured by her, they married in 1862, having two children: a boy named Volodya, and a daughter named Olga (after Mendeleev’s sister). However, the marriage was an unhappy one, and soon Mendeleev divorced her to marry his niece’s best friend, Anna Ivanovna Popov, whom he had fallen hopelessly in love with. Anna was very young when she married Mendeleev, but they were happy together, and had four children: Liubov, Ivan, and twins Vassili and Maria.
Mendeleev passed away from pneumonia in St. Petersburg on January 20th, 1907.
Above images accessed 21st of February 2013. Links attached to the picture.
Websites used to make this page:
Dmitriy Mendeleev: A Short CV, and A Story of Life, http://mendcomm.org/Mendeleev.aspx, accessed 19th February, 2013
"Ich bin Mendelejeff", http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/ci/1992/Mendeleev.html, accessed 18th February, 2013
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, http://www.csupomona.edu/~nova/scientists/articles/mend.html, accessed 18th February, 2013
Dmitriy Mendeleev: A Short CV, and A Story of Life, http://mendcomm.org/Mendeleev.aspx, accessed 19th February, 2013
"Ich bin Mendelejeff", http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/ci/1992/Mendeleev.html, accessed 18th February, 2013
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, http://www.csupomona.edu/~nova/scientists/articles/mend.html, accessed 18th February, 2013