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 · · 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 (), 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. odic Table. inspect cheese-making cooperatives. The letter sketched out three “serv- Mendeleevs hopes for how he Over the next months and years, Men- ices” he had provided to motherland would be remembered, as articulated deleev produced a fuller account of the and science over his 48-year career (thus differently in his three attempts to con- implications of his system, including his fixing the date in 1903). The first fruit of trol the future, were not fulfilled, or first predictions of new elements, culmi- his work was “scientific fame”, although were fulfilled only in the one very nating in his stunning articulation of the Mendeleev did not link this specifically important area of the Periodic Table. Periodic Table—and the detailed pre- to the Periodic System but measured it The oddity of Mendeleevs personal diction of three yet-undiscovered ele- entirely through his membership in over views, in our eyes, leaves two points to ments (eka-aluminum, eka-silicon, and fifty foreign and domestic scientific be explained: 1) How did Mendeleevs eka-boron)—published in Annales de societies and institutions. His second contribution to the Periodic System Chimie et de Physique in 1872.[6] service was to train thousands of stu- come to be so closely identified with The discovery of the eka-elements dents in the principles of science. He his entire legacy? 2) Why did he person- within fifteen years made the St. Peters- concluded: “My third service to the ally believe other aspects of his life to be burg chemists reputation internation- Motherland is least visible, although it equally important? ally, and simultaneously solidified the has occupied me from my youngest years status of the Periodic Table as more and to the present. This is the service, the more like a law of nature. Both the extent ofpowers and possibility forthe personal and the scientific goals were

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evolving views about the physics-like predictive powers of his law, Winkler for a short time considered renaming the element neptunium, because like the planet Neptune it was discovered by a prediction from interpolation. That is, much as Newtons laws were famously confirmed by the independent ascrip- tion of perturbations in the orbit of Uranus to a hypothesized Neptune by John Couch Adams of England (1843) and Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier of France (1846), Mendeleev would later draw on this physical analogy and the power of prediction to defend his peri- odic law. (The element we know today Figure 1. The first published form of Mendeleev’s Periodic System, dated February 17, 1869. as neptunium follows a different astro- Source: reference [21]. nomical analogy.) So began the rise of the Periodic Table and its close connection to Men- clearly central for the ambitious young complicated case, as it was more similar deleevs name. Yet the view of the chemist. (Not incidentally, the successful to the rare earths than either of Mende- Periodic Table as the pinnacle of Men- discoveries of the elements tended to leevs other two eka-elements, and such deleevs career—eventually encouraged award Mendeleev—the only one of the elements were very close to each other by the chemist himself—was a retro- five independent formulators of the both in atomic weight and chemical spective construction. Mendeleev was Periodic System to make such detailed properties and thus proved hard to not concerned in 1869 with establishing predictions—either most or all of the isolate. This element was discovered a basic law of chemistry. He was con- credit for the system, as opposed to, say, among various rare earths by L. F. cerned with writing a textbook for Lothar Meyer or J. A. R. Newlands.)[7] Nilson of Sweden. In his original publi- young chemists at St. Petersburg Uni- The first of these elements to be cation announcing this (once again) versity. From 1871 on, however, Men- found was the one to which Mendeleev patriotically named element, Nilson deleev himself would deracinate perio- had paid the least attention in his made no mention of the correspondence dicity and repeatedly reinterpret the predictions, eka-aluminum, which was with Mendeleevs eka-boron; Mende- periodic law as an emblem of proper discovered in France in 1875 as gallium leev, for his part, could not read Swedish science, and claim that he always knew by Paul Émile (François) Lecoq de and make the connection himself.[8] It what he had been doing from the start. Boisbaudran. Two features of the dis- was Nilsons countryman, Per Cleve, By 1871, Mendeleev was convinced covery of gallium make it distinctive who did so.[9] that the periodic law was indeed a law; among the eka-elements. First, the ob- On February 6, 1886, German chem- the difficulty now was to develop a sense vious similarity of this element with eka- ist Clemens Winkler announced his of what laws meant in the natural aluminum drew substantial attention to discovery of a new nonmetallic element sciences. When the stakes were raised, Mendeleevs 1871 system. Second, this in a mineral that had been found in the he turned to an obvious exemplar: was the only case among the three summer of 1885 near his Mining Acad- Newtons three laws of motion and his where Mendeleev scoured the foreign emy in , and, in a somewhat law of gravitation, which had enabled literature for possible confirmations of curious pattern, named this element physicists for a century and a half to his predictions and made the connection after his native country ().[10] describe the motion of celestial bodies himself. In the cases of eka-boron and (None of the three chemists knew of the with astonishing accuracy. They also eka-silicon, intermediaries stepped in, connection with the other two elements allowed scientists to predict (and even- although they extended full credit to when they discovered their own, which tually discover) new planets from aber- Mendeleev. makes this coincidence entirely fortui- rations in orbital motion. The Newtoni- There was understandable reluc- tous.) On February 25, 1886, V. F. Richt- an model became increasingly impor- tance among contemporaries to accept er, who had once been the St. Peters- tant over the course of Mendeleevs the two other predictions on the basis of burg correspondent of the German career. As the discovery of his eka- one, possibly lucky, guess. When the Chemical Society (and reported on the elements affirmed his confidence (and second eka-element was discovered in first announcements of Mendeleevs the confidence of other chemists) in the 1879, Mendeleevs case was much more Periodic Table in 1869), wrote to Win- periodic law, Mendeleev began to ele- than twice as strong; it seemed as if kler of the connection with Mendeleevs vate the periodic law to a fundamental there really were some deep regularities prediction. Winkler was immediately law like that of Newton. reflected in his system. This element, enthusiastic. In a telling comment that Mendeleev articulated his Newtoni- scandium (eka-boron), was a rather would reinforce Mendeleevs own an ambitions in two lectures in England

2760 www.angewandte.org 2007 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 2758 – 2765 Angewandte Chemie in 1889. The first, “An Attempt to Apply 4. The Two Eclipses of the bed pyrocollodion, for the Russian Na- to Chemistry One ofNewtons Laws of Periodic System vy, a position of tremendous importance Natural Philosophy”, delivered before in the modernization of the military in the Royal Institution on May 31, 1889, So Mendeleev, at least in 1890, had the late Tsarist Empire.[13] Mendeleev directly attempted to connect his work come to see his Periodic System as a left his post there before final decisions with that of the former President of the periodic law that elevated himself into were made on employing his gunpowder Royal Society, opposing the almost the role of a new Newton for the (it was eventually not adopted) to as- universally accepted structure theory physical sciences. If that was the case, sume an even more important position. with Newtonian dynamics. He treated why did Mendeleev in his final attempts In 1893, Mendeleev was named the these themes more abstractly in his to tally up his achievements in the first Chief Director of the Central Bureau of Faraday lecture, “The Periodic Law of years of the 20th century, not vaunt the Weights and Measures, a newly created Chemical Elements”, read before the periodic law as his seminal achievement. institution charged with establishing same audience on June 4, 1889. Here, There are two answers to this question. uniformity in Russian weights and meas- Mendeleev did not lecture directly on First, Mendeleev had left his post at ures, and with making first steps in Newtons laws but on the nature of his St. Petersburg University in April 1890 establishing the metric system in the own achievement. He chose to empha- and spent the next sixteen-and-a-half Russian Empire. Under the jurisdiction size two aspects of chemistry: the com- years of his life working for the Russian of the Ministry of Finances, and thus his munal effort of chemists to establish state on practical projects. These, and patron Sergei Witte (the recipient of the frameworks for knowledge, and the not his achievements from four decades second autobiographical note discussed necessity of adhering to laws to avoid earlier, were more salient in his mind. earlier), the post of Chief Director speculation. Both, he implied, were Second, Mendeleev had come to feel placed Mendeleev the highest he would ideals Newton would support. (New- that the Periodic System, far from being ever rise to in the Russian bureaucracy. tons distaste for communal work seems yet more stable as time went on, had He did his job exceptionally well. He to have been unknown to Mende- become vulnerable to attacks from re- was the author of the 1899 standardiza- leev.[11]) cent developments in the physical sci- tion law, the third (and last) in the In his later years, Mendeleev consis- ences. Mendeleev did not have the history of the Russian Empire and the tently turned to Newton as his own benefit of hindsight that we now enjoy; first to allow for the optional use of the historical forerunner rather than to a he had to make his own self-evaluations metric system, and he established a more chemical precursor, such as An- in the midst of what he felt were system of calibration that enabled the toine Lavoisier (1743–1794). Lavoisier triumphs in the civil service and defeats rigorous enforcement of measures and actually seems almost an overdeter- in the sciences. It should not surprise us prosecution of fraud. He also set up a mined choice for self-modeling; and that he considered matters otherwise scientific laboratory to pursue scientific yet, Mendeleev made very few referen- than we might. metrology in the Chief Bureau. Metro- ces to Lavoisier as a model. Instead of Mendeleev taught his first classes at logical affairs during the Soviet period selecting an exemplar that would place St. Petersburg University in the 1850s followed the paths set by Mendeleev.[14] his periodic law and himself squarely in and was a central pillar of the Natural As he approached his death, Mendeleev the chemical tradition, he opted for Sciences Faculty there since 1867. From had greater influence over the fate of Newton, a man with interests in optics, the beginning of his academic career, science and economics in Russia then alchemy, mechanics, mathematics, the- Mendeleev had carried on consulting in than he had ever wielded before (Fig- ology, and so on, none of which were the private sector for the oil industry or ure 2). He spent most of his biographical Mendeleevs strong suits. Why? First, for other commercial concerns such as notes from autumn 1906 discussing his although Lavoisiers importance in the agriculture or chemicals, but fundamen- recent ventures at the Bureau. It made history of science cannot be disputed, tally his home was always at the univer- sense that he saw this as his true legacy much of that reputation was solidified in sity. In Imperial Russia, being a profes- as he approached death in 1907. the centenary commemoration (in the sor meant, first and foremost, being a Mendeleevs success as a bureaucrat 1890s) of his execution by the Jacobins, civil servant, and Mendeleev moved was balanced by threats to his funda- while Newton had been a representative rapidly up the ranks to become a con- mental beliefs in chemistry. His under- genius since the days of Voltaire.[12] sultant for the Ministry of Finances on standing was heavily conditioned by the Second, much of Newtons fame stem- technical matters almost from the mo- periodic law itself. Matter, according to med from his creation of laws that could ment he received his post. When Men- Mendeleev, had three essential proper- make predictions (Halleys comet, Ura- deleev left the university in 1890 in the ties: it was atomic (each atom was nus, Neptune). Lavoisier predicted only midst of a fight over student rights with integral); it was immutable (each spe- the results of specific experiments, not the Minister of Popular Enlightenment, cific element had fixed mass and could the structure of the universe. Mende- he still had plenty of friends and collea- not become any other element); and leevs own international reputation was gues in other ministries who were happy each element possessed a specified va- heavily based on his prediction of the to make use of his talents. Immediately lency. Thus, each element in the system three eka-elements, making the analogy upon leaving St. Petersburg University, was placed as an atomic individual (in with Newton appealing. he worked for almost three years on a the literal sense of being without divi- variant of smokeless gunpowder, dub- sions), according to its mass, in a peri-

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far left of the Periodic System (and not the far right, as in modern representa- tions; see Figure 3). In this way, he argued, the system would be organized from least reactive (the inert gases) to most reactive (the halogens). One sees here that Mendeleev proved able to accommodate the inert gases fairly easily. Radioactivity was another matter altogether. In 1896, in an effort to demonstrate that the phe- nomena of X-rays (discovered by Wil- helm Conrad Röntgen the year before) were related to fluorescence, French physicist Henri Becquerel undertook a series of experiments on uranium. By accident, he discovered that uranium would cloud photographic plates; a series of further experiments led him to conclude that uranium spontaneously emitted energy. In 1898, Pierre and Marie Curie, in their Paris laboratory, discovered the new elements polonium and radium, which emitted energy of extreme intensity—dubbed radioactivi- ty by Marie. Radioactivity fast became one of the most vigorous fields of research in the physical sciences. Mendeleevs most salient introduc- tion to radioactivity, and the genesis of most of his hostile views of the phenom- Figure 2. Mendeleev in his home office, located adjacent to the Chief Bureau of Weights and enon, was his visit to the Curies labo- Measures, 1904. Source: reference [22]. ratory in Paris in 1902. In accordance with his conservative orientation, Men- deleev preferred innovation when it was odic relation marked by a recurrence of it seemed to be completely unable to built on longstanding tradition, such as valency. Mendeleev considered these bond with other elements. Mendeleev the Periodic System. He remarked to a three properties to be of a piece; they immediately telegrammed Ramsay (in friend: “Tell me, please, are there a lot of were simply what it meant to be a French): “Delighted at the discovery of radium salts in the whole earth? A chemical element. From 1894, a new argon. Think molecules contain three couple ofgrams! And on such shaky phenomenon had emerged to assault nitrogen bound together by heat.”[15] He foundations they want to destroy all our directly each of these qualities of matter, resisted a novel discovery in chemistry usual conceptions ofthe nature ofsub- and threatened both the borders of that could be interpreted as violating his stance!”[17] One of the conceptions that chemical knowledge and the stability periodic law. The threat was not just in would be destabilized was the immut- of the entire discipline. Mendeleevs head. After reviewing the ability of the elements, his conviction The man who had earned interna- properties of the inert gases discovered that elements could not transmute into tional fame by predicting the properties soon after argon, an American chemist each other—a modern alchemy. of empty spaces in his Periodic System remarked: “The appearance ofso many For Mendeleev, mass was not merely was taken by surprise in 1894 by William new elements at one time will no doubt a secondary characteristic of an ele- Ramsays announcement of a new prove embarrassing with the present ments properties as, say, its crystalline chemical element, dubbed argon—the arrangement ofthe Periodic System, structure; rather, it constituted the very inert one. While he had greeted the and attempts will probably be made to identity of an atom. It was how one validating discoveries of gallium, scan- rearrange the system to conform to these knew an oxygen atom to be different dium, and germanium with pleasure, new discoveries.”[16] from a cobalt atom: mass was the most argon was the first announced element Mendeleev soon changed his atti- fundamental discriminator. This view that had no empty space for it in the tude to the element. In 1903, he became stands in sharp contrast to todays Periodic System. It had a measured a proud partisan of the idea that the understanding of matter, where each atomic weight of 40, which would place inert gases should be considered a zero- atom is composed of a definite number it between chlorine and potassium, and valency zero group, to be placed on the of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and

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Figure 3. Mendeleev’s revised Periodic System with the chemical ether labeled x in the box at the upper left. Source: reference [23]. any given proton in a cobalt atom is was never aware of this development, When we recognize the ether as a gas identical to any in an oxygen atom, the and the ether was one of the most this means, above all, that we strive to latter being defined as any atom with universally acknowledged constituents relate its concept with the ordinary, real eight of these protons in its nucleus. In of the natural world. It was only reason- concept ofthe states ofmatter: gas, other words, Mendeleev firmly rejected able that he would turn to this most liquid, and solid…. Ifether is a gas, this any notion that atoms were composite. stable of concepts to defend against his means that it is ponderable, it has its own If radioactive elements were emitting feared instability. weight. We must ascribe to this ifwe are subatomic particles, then that implied In 1901, Mendeleev was approached not to discard on its behalfthe entire composite structure, and Mendeleev by the editors of a new journal, the conception ofthe natural sciences which was accordingly alarmed. The discovery Herald and Library ofSelf-Education ,to takes its origin from Galileo, Newton, of the electron in 1897 by J. J. Thomson write an article on the state of contem- and Lavoisier. But ifether has such a warned for a third time that changes porary science for the first issue. This highly developed power ofpenetration were imminent. new magazine was the perfect venue to that it goes through all envelopes, then it Mendeleev could not let such trans- work out his views on the ether. The is impossible to think about experimen- gressions against his fundamental con- essence of Mendeleevs project on the tally finding its mass in a given quantity ception of matter and, even more im- ether was to locate it in the Periodic ofother bodies, or the weight ofits portantly, his periodic law pass unan- System of Elements—as a noble gas— specific volume under given conditions, swered. Interpreting the situation in and then use interpolation techniques to and thus one should speak not ofthe fin de si›cle physical sciences as chemis- predict its necessary properties, just like imponderable ether, but ofthe impossi- try under attack by superstition and the prediction of the three eka-elements bility ofweighing it .[18] sloppy reasoning, and exasperated by in 1871. Although unweighable, the weight what he interpreted as people letting He began with the group of inert of the ether could be determined using their irrational preferences dissuade gases, elevating what was once the the periodic law. The periodic law only them from proper scientific method, albatross of chemical inactivity to a gave an upper cap for what element x,in Mendeleev undertook a chemical inter- virtue. Ether was to be the lightest row 0 and group 0, should weigh (x  pretation of the luminiferous ether that element, and at the top of the zero 0.17; with hydrogen H = 1). To find a would harness the inert gases to stave group (above another postulated ele- more exact prediction, he invoked phys- off the dangers of radioactivity and the ment, coronium). Mendeleev could now ics, specifically the kinetic theory of electron. The ether is in poor repute intuit some of its properties: gases, computing what the average today, having famously been declared Thus the world ether can be con- weight must be for the gas to escape superfluous in 1905 in Albert Einsteins ceived, like helium and argon, as inca- planetary atmospheres. Upon perform- special theory of relativity. Mendeleev pable of chemical combination…. ing a simple calculation using Newtons

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law of gravitation, Mendeleev argued were constructed, and the periodic law the lifespan of the formulator of the that x had to be less than 0.038 to escape was preserved. Periodic System of Chemical Elements. the earths atmosphere and less than Needless to say, despite an early However, individuals lives do not rise 0.000013 to escape the suns atmos- flourishing of interest in Mendeleevs monotonically, and often their careers phere. He then scaled up to a larger theory, the chemical ether did not catch appear to be at a downswing at the very star, g Virginis, which had a mass 32.7- on. By 1906, radioactivity had become moment death comes to them. So by all times greater than that of the sun. His so entrenched as a cornerstone of mod- means, let us celebrate the mind and final result was 0.00000096 > x > ern atomic theory, that Mendeleev si- achievements of D. I. Mendeleev; but 0.000000000053. Interestingly, even lently retreated, invoking his pet project let us also remember the person behind though mass can be canceled out of all no more. No wonder that when it came that name, the scientist, bureaucrat, and the escape velocity equations, he did not time to think of his legacy, he shied away father who died believing that he had make the simplification in order to from the Periodic System—it was not begun to put his affairs in order. make the calculation more visualizable. “stable”, the word he used in 1905 about He finally calculated that the ether must his scientific achievements, and his most Published online: February 2, 2007 weigh nearly one-millionth of an atom recent venture in it had been a bit of hydrogen, and must move at about embarrassing. He looked to recent glo- 2250 kilometers per second. This ether ries and not past glories; and this meant [1] For a fuller analysis of Mendeleevs penetrated everything and produced Mendeleev the civil servant. biography, with further documentation observable effects when it interacted on the topics addressed here, see: M. D. slightly with elements.[19] Gordin, A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev assimilated this project 5. Conclusion: Looking Forward Mendeleev and the Shadow ofthe Peri- for a chemical ether seamlessly with his odic Table, Basic Books, New York, 2004. new self-presentation as a disciple of Sir Mendeleev would certainly have [2] D. I. Mendeleev, “Biograficheskie za- Isaac Newton. In the article on chemical been delighted that his name is still metki o D. I. Mendeleeve (pisany vse ether, he added as a brief footnote: “I spoken of by chemists a century after his mnoiu—D. I. Mendeleevym),” repro- would like preliminarily to call it ”new- death, even if this might have struck him duced in S. A. Shchukarev and S. N. tonium“—in honor ofthe immortal as unexpected. He did not expect his Valk, Arkhiv D. I. Mendeleeva, t. 1: Newton.” In an early draft, scrawled name would necessarily live in chemis- Avtobiograficheskie Materialy, Sbornik Dokumentov, Izd. Leningradskogo go- illegibly on both sides of a flimsy scrap try for a long time. He cast his bets, sudarstvennogo universiteta im. A. A. of paper, he emphasized this Newtonian rather, on the development of the Rus- Zhdanova, Leningrad, 1951, 13 – 30. aspect even more, concluding: “[The sian Empire into an industrial capitalist [3] Reproduced in S. A. Shchukarev and ether is] the lightest elementary gas which nation state. Given how both Russia and S. N. Valk, Arkhiv D. I. Mendeleeva, t. 1: penetrates everything (row 0, group 0), chemistry developed in the century Avtobiograficheskie Materialy, Sbornik which I would like to preliminarily call since his death, one can safely say that Dokumentov, Izd. Leningradskogo go- newtonium, since the thoughts ofNewton Mendeleevs predictive powers were not sudarstvennogo universiteta im. A. A. Zhdanova, Leningrad, 1951, 31—33. penetrate all parts ofmechanics, physics, as sharp as they had been in 1871, when [20] [4] Reproduced in S. A. Shchukarev and and chemistry.” he forecast the properties of his eka- S. N. Valk, Arkhiv D. I. Mendeleeva, t. 1: How was this to explain radioactivity elements. Avtobiograficheskie Materialy, Sbornik and the electron? Mendeleev noted that Yet the story narrated here does Dokumentov, Izd. Leningradskogo go- the chiefly radioactive elements (urani- offer us some insight into how we today sudarstvennogo universiteta im. A. A. um, thorium, radium, etc.) were the might use commemorative dates to Zhdanova, Leningrad, 1951, 34 – 36. heaviest ones, and thus they must attract deepen our understanding not only of [5] For details, see: M. D. Gordin, A Well- Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev and a large proportion of lighter matter, just the historical context of these prominent the Shadow ofthe Periodic Table , Basic as the sun attracted planets and cosmic figures in the history of science, but also Books, New York, 2004, chap. 2. See dust. Naturally, uranium would be sur- of their science. It is a truism that no one also: I. S. Dmitriev, Voprosy istorii es- rounded by a great cloud of attracted can predict what science will become in testvoznaniia i tekhniki. 2001, no. 1,31– ether that dissolved and intercalated the future, and the hopes of an individ- 82. with the uranium mass itself. At some ual for the legacy of an individual [6] D. Mendelejew, Ann. Chim. Phys. Ser. VIII 1872, 133 – 229. critical point, too much ether penetrated scientific discovery are weak. Mende- [7] For the priority disputes, see: J. W. van the uranium and certain chemical pro- leevs case shows us, 100 years after his Spronsen, The Periodic System ofChem- cesses, of whose exact nature we were death, that even the past is not so easy to ical Elements: A History ofthe First ignorant, caused quantities of ether to discern from the vantage point of ones Hundred Years, Elsevier, Amsterdam, be ejected from the sample. Radioactive late career. 1969. energy was just the reaction energy We tend to see the biographies of [8] L. F. Nilson, Ofversigt af Kongl. Veten- produced by the minute and highly great figures in light of their highest skaps-Akademiens Förhandlingar, 1879, no. 3, 47 – 51. diffusive ether. Ether atoms, and not a points. In that sense, what we commem- [9] P. Cleve, C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. decayed part of the primary atom, were orate this year with the centenary of 1879, 89, 419 – 422. ejected. There was no transmutation, no Mendeleevs death is not that date but [10] C. Winkler, Ber. Deut. Chem. Ges. 1886, primary matter from which all elements the legacy of 1869–1871, as marked by 19, 210 – 211.

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[11] D. Mendeleev, J. Chem. Soc. 1889, 55, [18] D. I. Mendeleev, Vestnik i Biblioteka Mendeleevs collected papers on perio- 634 – 656 (ellipses added). Samoobrazovaniia, 1903, nos. 1–4,25– dicity in D. I. Mendeleev, Periodischeskii [12] B. Bensaude-Vincent, Isis 1996, 87, 481 – 32, 83 – 92, 113 – 122, 161 – 176 (empha- zakon. Klassiki nauki (Ed.: B. M. Ke- 499. sis in original). drov), Izd. AN SSSR, Moscow, 1958, [13] M. D. Gordin, Technology and Culture [19] D. I. Mendeleev, Vestnik i Biblioteka p. 9. 2003, 44, 677 – 702. Samoobrazovaniia, 1903, nos. 1–4, 165 – [22] R. B. Dobrotin, N. G. Karpilo, L. S. [14] M. D. Gordin, Kritika 2003, 4, 783 – 815. 167. Kerova, D. N. Trifonov, Letopis zhizni [15] Mendeleev to Ramsay, February 12, [20] D. I. Mendeleev, Vestnik i Biblioteka i deiatelnosti D. I. Mendeleeva (Ed.: 1895, as quoted in: M. D. Gordin, A Samoobrazovaniia, 1903, nos. 1–4, A. V. Storonkin), Nauka, Leningrad, Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev 163n, and fragment quoted in: M. D. 1984, p. 477. and the Shadow ofthe Periodic Table , Gordin, A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii [23] D. MendelØef, An Attempt towards a Basic Books, New York, 2004, p. 210. Mendeleev and the Shadow ofthe Peri- Chemical Conception ofthe Ether [16] J. E. Gilpin, Am. Chem. J. 1898, 20, 696 – odic Table, Basic Books, New York, (translated by G. Kamensky), Long- 699. 2004, p. 224. mans, Green, and Co., London, 1904, D. I. Mendeleev [17] Quoted in: N. Morozov, [21] “Sootnoshenie svoistv s atomnym vesom p. 26. i znachenie ego periodicheskoi sistemy elementov”: D. I. Mendelejew, Zhurnal dlia khimii budushchago, I. D. Sytin, Russkogo khimicheskogo obshchestva Moscow, 1908, p. 89. 1869, 1(2–3), 60 – 77, as reprinted with

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