Dmitri Mendeleev

Mendeleev, Dmitri (1834-1907): Russian chemist born at Tobolsk, Siberia. He studied science at St. Petersburg and graduated in 1856. In 1863 he was appointed to a professorship and in 1866 he succeeded to the Chair in the University. Mendeleev is best known for his work on the periodic table; arranging the 63 known elements into a Periodic Table based on Atomic Mass, which he published in Principles of Chemistry in 1869. He predicted the existence and properties of new elements and pointed out accepted atomic weights that were in error. This organization surpassed attempts at classification by Beguyer de Chancourtois and Newlands and was published a year before the work of Lothar Meyer.

Mendeleev provided for variance from strict atomic weight order, left space for new elements, and predicted three yet-to-be-discovered elements including eke-silicon and eke-boron. His table did not include any of the Noble Gases, however, which had not yet been discovered.

Mendeleev anticipated Andrews' concept (1869) of the critical temperature of gases. He also investigated the thermal expansion of liquids, and studied the nature and origin of petroleum. He was considered one of the greatest teachers of his time. In 1890 he resigned his professorship and in 1893 became director of the bureau of weights and measures in St. Petersburg, where he remained until his death in 1907.