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Top 13 Unbelievable Facts about Dmitri Mendeleev

*Originally published by Crispus on June 2022 and Updated by Vanessa R on May 2023 and Updated by Felix on May 2024

Dmitri Mendeleev was a Russian chemist who is famous for developing the Periodic Table. He formulated the Periodic law and popularized the periodic table through his correct predictions regarding the properties of yet-undiscovered elements.

He was born on February 8, 1834, in the village of Verkhnie Aremzyani, near Tobolsk, in the Russian province of Siber. His mother was Mariya Dmitriyevna Kornilova and his father was Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev.

Here are the top unbelievable facts about him.

1. Dmitri Mendeleev’s Family was Tragic

Mendeleev was the youngest in a family of 17, of whom  3 did not make it to adulthood. His father Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev was a teacher of fine arts, politics, and philosophy.

Unfortunately for the family, Ivan went blind and lost his teaching position. His mother Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleeva restarted the family’s abandoned glass factory to support the family.

His father died when he was  13  years old and his mother’s glass factory was destroyed in a fire leading to a financial crisis in the family.

2. Dmitri Mendeleev attended the Main Pedagogical Institute in St Petersburg

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In his early years, Dmitri started his schooling at the Gymnasium in Tobolsk, where his father was a former teacher. In 1850, at the age of 16, the Mendeleev family moved to Saint Petersburg.

 Dmitri Mendeleev entered the Main Pedagogical Institute, where he graduated in 1855, where he taught for a short time before returning to do his Master’s. Mendeleev did some of his research at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He obtained his doctorate in 1865.

3. Dmitri Mendeleev Studied in Germany

Mendeleev had trained as both a teacher and an academic chemist. He worked  in the school before he won a scholarship to pursue his chemical research in Western Europe.

While in Germany, Mendeleev spent most of his time at Heidelberg University, where he worked and did chemical experimental research.

In 1860, Mendeleev attended the first-ever international chemistry conference, held in Karlsruhe, Germany. The conference’s main discussion was the need to standardize chemistry.

That conference Mendeleev attended in Germany, played a key role in his development of the periodic table, producing a standardized method for determining atomic weights. 

4. Dmitri Mendeleev Developed the Periodic table

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Dmitri Mendeleev is known as the father of the periodic table, an achievement he made while working as a professor at St Petersburg University in the 1960s. 

As he attempted to classify the elements according to their chemical properties, he noticed patterns that led him to postulate his periodic table; he claimed to have envisioned the complete arrangement of the elements in a dream.

By adding additional elements following this pattern, Mendeleev developed his extended version of the periodic table. On 6 March 1869, he made a formal presentation to the Russian Chemical Society.

Apart from the Periodic Table, other achievements of Mendeleev include important contributions to determining the nature of solutions and introducing the metric system in Russia.

5. Dmitri Mendeleev was a Nobel Prize  Nominee

In 1905, Mendeleev was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The following year the Nobel Committee for Chemistry recommended he be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 1906.

The Chemistry Section of the Swedish Academy supported his nomination, due to his discovery of the chemical periodic table in 1868. 

However, some members of the academy opposed his nomination in favor of Henry Moissan.

Finally, Mendeleev lost to Moison after the majority of the academy members voted against him. 

6. Dmitri Mendeleev University bears his  Name

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D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia is a federal state budgetary higher educational institution in Moscow. It is the largest Russian center for education and research in the field of chemical technology.

 The university acquired its current name and status in 1992 in honor of Dmitri Mendeleev for his discovery of periodic systems in 1869. 

The university offers bachelor’s, specialists credential, master’s, and Ph.D. programs in various areas of chemistry.

7. Dmitri Mendeleev was Technically a Bigamist

Mendeleev became engaged to Feozva Nikitichna Leshcheva on 4 April 1862, and they married on 27 April 1862 at Mykolaiv Engineering Institute‘s church in St Petersburg.

In 1876, Dmitri became obsessed with Anna Ivanova Popova and began courting her; he proposed to her and threatened to commit suicide if she refused to marry him.

Their marriage took place on 2nd April 1882 and his marriage to Leshcheva was officially ended one month later.  

The Russian Orthodox Church regulations state that one should stay for seven years after divorce before being allowed to marry again. 

8. Dmitri Mendeleev was a Scientific Writer

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Dmitri had written several scientific journals and books related to his work as a chemist and inventor. He also wrote other materials not related to chemistry.

After becoming a teacher in 1867, Mendeleev wrote Principles of Chemistry which became the definitive textbook in it’s time. 

Beginning in the 1870s, he published widely beyond chemistry, looking at aspects of Russian industries and technical issues in agricultural productivity.

9. Mendeleev crater on the moon bears his name 

Mendeleev is a large lunar impact crater that is located on the far side of the Moon, as seen from the Earth. The southern rim of this walled plain just crosses the lunar equator

The crater was named after the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1961 by AIU, in honor of his contribution to chemistry.

10. Dmitri Mendeleev Believed in Romanticized Deism

Mendeleev was raised as an Orthodox Christian, his mother encouraging him to search for divine and scientific truth. He later departed from the church and embraced a form of “romanticized deism“.

Romanticized deism, is a belief that God made it possible for people to discover natural laws through their God-given power to reason. 

11. He only trimmed his hair twice a year

It was well known that Dmitri Mendeleev had long hair and a beard that he only trimmed once a year. His beard and hair were both extremely long, with the beard allegedly reaching his chest and touching his waist. He had a reputation for being a guy of great discipline, and this included maintaining his looks.

12. He worked with many other scientists

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Pioneering scientist Dmitry Mendeleev changed how scientists work. In addition to actively seeking data from his colleagues to support his own research, he was one of the first scientists to grasp the value of international collaboration and communication. The periodic table of elements, which is still in use today, was one of the ground-breaking scientific discoveries he made because of his forward-thinking methodology.

13. His childhood wasn’t that great

Dmitri was a member of a large family; the exact number of his siblings is not known, but he had more than ten. Practical arts, politics, and philosophy were subjects his father Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev taught.

Ivan lost his teaching position and, unfortunately for the family, got blind. To help the family, his mother Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleeva revived the family’s abandoned glass manufacturing facility. Dmitri’s mother’s glass production business was destroyed in a fire two years after his father passed away, leaving the family in financial ruin.

Popular Mendeleev’s Inventions and Innovations

Sciencehas never been the same since a man named Dimitri Mendeleev made his contributions and left a legacy. As a creative and innovative polymath and chemist,  Dimitri made contributions that are still used in the modern world. This was a generational man whose immense inventions and innovations can never be replicated. Although his outstanding invention was the periodic table, Dimitri Mendeleev ventured into other fields, inventing and innovating new ways of seeing things. As a devoted reader, I have ventured into the life of this incredible man to discover what he did for science apart from the periodic table.

In this article, I will delve into some of the innovations and inventions of this Russian chemist. I have realized that Dimitri is the mastermind behind the invention of new explosives and smokeless gunpowder that revolutionized the wars during his time. I am struck by the genius of a man whose intelligence transcended beyond his time. Join me as we explore some of the inventions and innovations made by Dimitri in the nineteenth century that are still used today.

These are the five popular Mendeleev’s inventions and innovations:

1. Discovery of the smokeless powder

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One of Mendeleev’s important yet underappreciated innovations was the smokeless gunpowder. When soldiers battled in war before this invention, there was a lot of black smoke on the battlefield. The smoke was due to the sulfur and charcoal that were used to make gunpowder. Mendeleev seized the opportunity to make something that would generate less or no smoke. He went to the lab and used ingredients such as nitrocellulose, vaseline, and camphor to make the first smokeless powder. This invention changed modern-day artillery and small arms used in the military. The Russian military was the first to utilize Mendeleev’s innovation, which has been carried on to modern days.

2. Creating the periodic table of elements

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The most celebrated achievement and innovation by Dimitri Mendeleev was the formulation of the periodic table of elements. When he began his work in 1869, Mendeleev shocked everybody by arranging the sixty-three elements in a periodic table. He arranged the elements in the order of their properties and atomic weights. However, what made Mendeleev a genius was his ability to leave gaps on the table for the elements that had not yet been discovered. His genius was confirmed when elements such as gallium were later discovered and fitted perfectly in the gaps on the periodic table. Through this invention, scientists can understand the elements and their relationships and be able to place future elements in the right place.

3. Starting the capillarity Theory

While discovering the periodic table was Mendeleev’s best achievement, his discovery of the capillarity theory showed how liquids behave when they are placed in narrow spaces. He discovered that the cohesive force between liquid molecules and the adhesive force between the liquid molecules and the solid container played a role in the liquid rising from the bottom to the top. His experiments led to the discovery of the mathematical equation that described the relationship between the diameter of the tube and capillary rise. This is also the same process that takes place in plants as they transport water from the roots to the leaves.

4. Thermal expansion of liquids

Dimitri Mendeleev also discovered the concept of thermal expansion of liquids through experiments with different liquids such as water, mercury, alcohol, and others. Through these experiments, he discovered that different liquids change in volume when they are exposed to different temperatures. Most importantly, he also realized that thermal expansion rates differed from one liquid to another. This invention gave engineers the headstart to predict volume changes of fluids when they are exposed to different temperatures, thus the effective use of the hydraulic system today.

5. Generating the gas equation

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Last on the list is Mendeleev’s generation of the gas equation through his constant study of the properties of gases. His research led to him discovering the formula that became known as the Mendeleev gas equation. This Russian scientist discovered the relationship between volume, pressure, and temperature of gases under different conditions. His equation was an improvement of the ideal gas equation. Mendeleev suggested that the gas molecules attract each other thus taking less space. In his generation of the equation, Mendeleev also considered the fact that these gas molecules are not tiny spots but molecules that take up space leading to a more accurate gas equation.

The above innovations and inventions by Mendeleev outline this man’s genius and intelligence. He is the man who has helped us to understand the fundamental nature of matter while also making immense changes in the industries. I have come to understand the origin of the gunpowder, and the prediction of elements in the periodic table because of his genius mind. He embodies the spirit of passion and curiosity leading him to creativity and inventions.