DI Mendeleev: Reflecting on His Death in 1907
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Essays DOI: 10.1002/anie.200601976 History of Science D. I. Mendeleev: Reflecting on His Death in 1907 M. D. Gordin* Keywords: history of science · Mendeleev, Dmitrii Ivanovich · periodic table · periodicity 1. Introduction reflected upon his own mortality. Per- his own death approaching, he turned to haps surprisingly, we find a man much his greatest invention: himself. February 2 (January 20 by the Old more concerned about the state of the The last of these three autobio- Style Julian calendar), 2007, marks the Russian Empire and his own public graphical recreations to be written was 100th anniversary of the death of Dmi- service than his contributions to the an annotated chronology entitled “Bio- trii Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834–1907), periodic law, the latter of which he graphical Notes on D. I. Mendeleev”, most often identified as the Russian considered to be a bit more unstable begun on September 2, 1906, which he chemist who formulated the Periodic than the former. To understand this noted were “written entirely by me— Table of Chemical Elements. Already inversion of our contemporary sensibil- D. I. Mendeleev”.[2] Commenting re- some violence has been done to Men- ities—after all, the Periodic Table hangs peatedly to several of his friends and deleevs memory in reducing him in this in almost every chemistry classroom in associates that his death was impending, fashion, as that is not necessarily how he the world, while the Russian Empire he divided his life into segments of time saw himself. Russian he indubitably was, Mendeleev knew disintegrated most and recorded the most important inci- and proudly so, but he saw himself as dramatically in the revolution of dents in each. In fact, the entry for 1906 more than a chemist, and certainly as 1917—we need to consider Mendeleev included the comment: “Began to bring someone responsible for much more in the context of the chemistry and the books and papers into order—this keeps than merely the Periodic Table—a Russia of his own time.[1] Mendeleevs me very occupied—before death, al- somewhat unintentional accomplish- last years were ones of tremendous though I feel fine.” The method was far ment of a 35-year-old man in 1869. excitement and change, neither of which from scientific or exhaustive, and the What we usually commemorate in were qualities the aging scientist partic- entries tended to get fuller and more marking Mendeleevs passing is more ularly valued. detailed in the last fifteen years of his often 1869, not 1907. He did not know, life. as none of us know, when he was going The final article bears many idio- to die, although he certainly suspected 2. Deathbed Autobiographies syncracies. One of the most notable that his health was going poorly. Men- features of the biographical notes is deleev lived his life forwards, as we all Mendeleev sought to bring his life how many important events Mendeleev do, interpreting his past in light of his into focus for historians and biographers omitted, such as his two-year postdoc- present. As our present differs from his, on three occasions in the last months of toral sojourn in Heidelberg (Germany), we remember him differently than he his life. Each of these attempts—much where he formed some of his closest would have expected. like each of the attempts to refine the (albeit temporary) associations with in- Mendeleev was fully aware that the Periodic Table during the time he most dividuals such as Emil Erlenmeyer, Periodic Table was a great achievement; intensively explored it (1869–1871)— Aleksandr Borodin, and I. M. Sechenov. he would have demurred, perhaps, builds on what he had previously assem- At the same time, Mendeleev empha- about whether it was the great achieve- bled and adds or develops a specific sized those parts of his life story that fit ment of his lifetime. I propose in this feature of his own self-image. They are the already congealing clichØ of how to essay to sketch out what Mendeleev presented here not in their chronolog- describe the life of a great scientist: He himself thought his life meant at those ical order, but, somewhat arbitrarily, in stressed his provincial origins in far-off few moments in his last decade when he order of increasing familiarity with our Tobolsk, Siberia, his sickly youth, and own current vision of Mendeleevs sig- his battles with more established figures nificance. This was, importantly, neither who failed to appreciate his genius. In all [*] Prof. M. D. Gordin the first nor the last way Mendeleev saw of these duels, of course, whether Department of History himself. He quite correctly saw his against geography, nature, or authority, Princeton University career as a series of inventions, of he emerged victorious. His staggering 129 Dickinson Hall Princeton, NJ 08544 (USA) created devices meant to bring more defeats, such as his rejection by the Fax : (+1)609-258-5326 order to the chaos and the crumbling St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in E-mail: [email protected] systems he saw around him. As he felt November 1880, pass without a men- 2758 2007 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 2758 – 2765 Angewandte Chemie tion. In furtherance of this theme, the growth ofRussian industry… ” Here, too, 3. Mendeleev’s System Becomes details of his scientific work are barely Mendeleevs conception of himself at Mendeleev’s Law mentioned (the years 1869–1871 com- the end of his life was largely in terms of prise eleven words, none of them on the public service; even his scientific accom- Mendeleev first articulated a Peri- Periodic Table), but his orders of merit plishments were recognized by himself odic Table in early 1869 in response to from the Tsarist state and his foreign only in terms of prestige, not what we the difficulties of organizing the 63 travels are lovingly catalogued by the might consider grander epistemological known elements for presentation in the year. The Mendeleev invented here and contributions. first edition of his textbook, The Princi- memorialized by the man himself is one So, did Mendeleev, as he pondered ples ofChemistry .[5] The first volume of who is lauded by his state for his his death, ever think of himself in terms the manuscript offered a detailed ac- triumphs over adversity, but less as a similar to ours, that is, as the architect of count of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, scientist than as a public servant devoted the Periodic Table first and foremost? and carbon, as well as the four halogens, to the economic and technological re- The answer is yes, but it was in the most leaving over 85% of the elements to the structuring of Tsarist Russia. private of his three deathbed autobiog- second volume. It would simply have The first autobiographical piece to raphies, in a solitary diary entry penned been impossible for him to provide the be written, although one of the last to be on July 10, 1905, amidst the tumultuous same level of detail in the second read, was a private letter Mendeleev events of the first Russian Revolution.[4] volume, so he hit upon the idea of wrote to his erstwhile patron, the Min- Articulating his objections to a personal organizing some of them into regular ister of Finances, Sergei Witte, in August attack in the newspapers, he hoped “that families of similar properties, following 1903. After a real-estate speculation the results of my lifelong efforts re- (to some degree) an accepted idea. went badly for Mendeleev, he began to mained stable, ofcourse not forcenturies, While developing this structure for the reflect on how he would support his but for a long time and after my ap- book, he found that other regular fam- family (he still had a wife and two young proaching death. Only two areas of ilies also existed, and that the order of children at home) if he died. He wrote lifelong efforts do I consider stable their atomic weights displayed some this letter to Witte, soon to become in myself: my children and my scientific regularity. In fact, when the elements 1905 the first Prime Minister of Russia, works”. He, of course, hoped for the were arranged by order of increasing and had it sealed with instructions to health of his children, but was much less atomic weight, they fell naturally, with a mail it on the event of his death. In certain about the stability of his scien- certain periodicity (a term he borrowed September 1906, having outlived his tific works. He considered these to have from the mathematics of periodic func- expectations, Mendeleev sent the letter four main components: the periodic law, tions), into families. He wrote up his first off anyway.[3] This letter had a purpose: research into the expansion of gases, the draft of the table on February 17, 1869 it was designed to display before Witte understanding of solutions as (non-ion- (Figure 1). Mendeleevs significance to the Russian ized) associations, and his textbook The It is unlikely that Mendeleev under- state and to shame that state into Principles ofChemistry . Of these four, stood the generality of his table when he providing help to his family as a post- interestingly, only the first lasts as the first developed it in February 1869. Had humous reward. It was very much a basis for Mendeleevs present-day rep- he been cognizant of the implications of utilitarian document. If the biographical utation. Despite his hopes, in this single the Periodic Table, he would most likely notes were an effort to make historians document, for a long-lived diverse rep- not have relegated the initial presenta- in the future think well of him as an utation in several areas of chemistry and tion of it to the Russian Chemical Imperial civil servant, the letter to Witte physics, his renown has collapsed into Society in March 1869 to his friend was an attempt to make one man in the the one single achievement of the Peri- Nikolai Menshutkin while he went off to present think well of him as a protØgØ.