D. I. MENDELEYEV — PRIDE OF RUSSIAN SCIENCE

The list of fields of knowledge which Mendeleyev's genius touched upon is enormous. Chemistry, physics, earth sciences, metrology, economics, metallurgy and many more. Mendeleyev's legacy comprises 25 volumes, a third of them devoted to chemistry.

D. I. Mendeleyev, the outstanding Russian scientist, was born in Tobolsk in 1834. In 1850 at the age of 16 he entered the Pedagogical Institute in St. Petersburg to study chemistry. Five years later he graduated from it with a gold medal and was invited to lecture on theoretical and organic chemistry at St. Petersburg University. To continue his studies and research Mendeleyev was sent to Germany in 1859. While living abroad he made a number of important investigations.

The year 1868 was the beginning of his highly acclaimed work "Fundamentals of Chemistry". When working at the subject Mendeleyev analysed an enormous amount of literature, made thousands of experiments and calculations. This tremendous work resulted in the Table of Elements consisting of vertical groups and horizontal periods. Mendeleyev was the first to suggest a system of classification in which the elements are arranged in the order of increasing atomic weights. The main idea of the Periodic System is the idea of periodic repetition of properties with the increase of the atomic weights. Arranging all the existing elements in the Table Mendeleyev had to overcome great difficulties, as a considerable number of elements were unknown at that time and the atomic weights of 9 elements (out of 63) were wrongly determined. Thanks to his investigations Mendeleyev was able to predict not only the existence of a few unknown elements but their properties as well. Later the elements predicted were discovered.

More than 350 works written by Mendeleyev deal with a great many subjects. Combining theory with practical activities he carried out an enormous research in coal, iron and steel industries in Russia. He died in 1907 at the age of 73.

The achievements in chemistry and physics at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century made it necessary to reconstruct the Periodic Table taking into account³ new discoveries.

Time is the severest judge in science. After more than 100 years of its existence, the Periodic Law has preserved its full value and is being constantly developed with each new discovery.

Notes on the Text

1. a number of — деяка кількість, ряд

2. to take into account — прийняти до уваги

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