Dmitri Mendeleyev, Russian Chemist

Posted by Tel Asiado Feb 9, 2008

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev, (1834-1907), born February 8, 1834.

He was a Russian chemist born in Tobolsk in the far west of Siberia, Russia. Mendeleyev was first to understand that all elements are related members of a single ordered system, and constructed the first satisfactory periodic law and table of classified elements in chemistry, 1869. This is the basis of his law: "The chemical properties of the elements depend on their relative atomic masses." The elements are arranged by atomic number and organized by their related groups.

Anyone who had done science at school, (I had my own share of chemistry), must have heard or studied the Periodic Table of Elements. We may recall having to learn the early parts of it by heart.

At the time of his discovery, Mendeleyev was a professor at St Petersburg. He published his Periodic Table in 1869. At that time, he believed that there were still some spaces in his table representing elements to be discovered. He was right, of course. The first found after his discovery, was in the year 1875.

Mendeleyev's textbook: Principles of Chemistry (1868-70) was adopted widely.

For more of Dmitri Mendeleyev, visit:

Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev, Chemistry.mtu.edu