Mendeleev Dmitry Ivanovich, whose biography and personality, at least in the most general terms, are familiar to each of our compatriots, is one of the most prominent scientists in Russian history. It is about the biography of this scientist that will be discussed in this article.
Biography of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev: early years
The future creator of the table of chemical elements was born in February 1834. To him
happened to be born in the family of the director of a prestigious gymnasium from the city of Tobolsk. In addition to our hero, the parents of the future chemist had seventeen more children. However, eight of them died at an early age. Dima began his studies at the gymnasium of his native city. After graduation, he entered St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. At twenty-one, a young man graduates from university, having been awarded a gold medal for academic excellence.
Mendeleev's biography: the beginning of a career
After graduation, Mendeleev did not immediately begin to closely study chemistry. For some time, the young man tries to prove himself in the literary business. Actually, this was facilitated by the very golden era of Russian poetry, in which he happened to live. In parallel, he was engaged in private teaching. But soon, due to problems with his own he alth, Dmitry Ivanovich had to move to Odessa. In this southern city, he gets a job as a teacher at a gymnasium maintained at the Richelieu Lyceum.
However, a year later, Mendeleev returned to the capital, where he defended his master's thesis, which gave him the right to teach a course in organic chemistry at Alma mater. In 1859, the young scientist was sent on a two-year internship to the German city of Heidelberg. Already on his return to Russia, Dmitry Ivanovich writes the first ever domestic textbook on organic chemistry.
Mendeleev's biography: heyday of activity and recognition
A rather young scientist at that time defended his doctoral dissertation in 1865. In this work, the foundations of a new approach to the study of organic solutions were already laid. After the defense, he holds the position of professor at St. Petersburg University. In parallel, he lectures in a number of other metropolitan universities. In the same 1865, Mendeleev acquired an estate in the small settlement of Boblovo, located in the Moscow province. There he undertakes with great enthusiasm to conduct research in the field of agrochemistry and agriculture.
In 1869, Dmitry Ivanovich makes the same scientific discovery, thanks to which he is now known in Russia and the rest of the world - he was the first to formulate and streamline the periodic table of chemical elements. Twoyear, in 1871, from the pen of the scientist, the monograph “Fundamentals of Chemistry”, which later became a classic, was published. In subsequent years, Dmitry Ivanovich is engaged in teaching and scientific research, with which his biography is so rich. Mendeleev was nominated as an academician in 1880, but the candidacy never passed. This event caused stormy indignation in the society. The scientific department of the university, where he worked for more than thirty years, Dmitry Ivanovich leaves in 1890 in protest against the mass oppression of the rights and freedoms of students.
Dmitry Mendeleev. Biography: recent years
At the end of his life, the recognized scientist worked for some time as a consultant in the Naval Ministry. Later, he even became the organizer of the first Chamber of Weights and Measures in the history of Russia, as well as its first director. It was here that he worked until his death. The famous Russian scientist died on February 2, 1907.