The Presidential Library talked about the scientist Dmitri Mendeleev

On February 8, 2024, on the Day of Russian Science, the Presidential Library held a lecture “Science and Industry - These Are My Dreams” as part of the video lecture Knowledge of Russia. The event was dedicated to the 190th anniversary of the encyclopedist scientist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834–1907), who distinguished himself in such scientific fields as chemistry, physics, metrology, economics, and instrument making.

Doctor of Chemical Sciences, senior researcher at the St. Petersburg branch of the Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Igor Dmitriev, gave a lecture about the scientist.

Dmitri Mendeleev lived a complex and eventful life. Unlike Mikhail Lomonosov, he did not have to leave home to get an education. Mendeleev was a family child, loved and spoiled. He studied at the Tobolsk classical gymnasium, after which he entered the Main Pedagogical Institute in St. Petersburg. He did not die from consumption; the diagnosis of St. Petersburg doctors was not confirmed. He realized in time that he could rely primarily on himself, although the people he met along the path of life, as a rule, treated him favorably and with sympathy.

Mendeleev managed to overcome bureaucratic obstacles and leave provincial Odessa, where he worked as a teacher in gymnasium classes at the Richelieu Lyceum. He got the opportunity to undergo a two-year internship abroad and meet there with outstanding scientists of his time. He managed to become a full and influential member of the capital's university corporation, discover the Periodic Law, write the best chemistry textbook of his time, and also make an invaluable contribution to the development of domestic industry.

The event recording is available on the institution’s Rutube-channel.

One can learn more about the scientist on the Presidential Library's portal in the digital collection Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834–1907), which includes his works, correspondence, archival documents about relatives, scientific, pedagogical and social activities, 20th century studies about the scientific heritage of Mendeleev as well as visual materials. In addition, in the library’s collections provide a recording of a video lecture dedicated to Dmitri Mendeleev, Man and Scientist: marking the 185th anniversary of the birth of the encyclopedist scientist and the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements.