Dmitri Mendeleev

Author: Zhang Jialin, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-11-01
Features: Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834–1907) was a genius, comprehensive scientist, outstanding educator, and advanced social activist. He was a pride of the great Russian nation. Mendeleev was one of the advanced scientific and cultural figures of the second half of the 19th century in Russia, belonging to the glorious generation of great men, hailed as one of the "Sixty Outstanding Figures," and also a great representative of the Russian democratic revolutionary movement. He was an energetic and highly accomplished scientist. He dedicated his life to scientific innovation, possessing exceptional abstract thinking abilities. In 1869, Mendeleev discovered the periodic table of chemical elements, which was one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 19th century, laying the foundation for modern chemistry. This was an achievement that would be recorded in history. Mendeleev excelled at discovering inherent laws from surface phenomena, possessing extraordinary insight. He was a pure innovator, an absolute genius, able to foresee the most important and practical scientific issues and grasp the pulse of scientific existence and development. Engels once praised Mendeleev as follows: "Mendeleev unconsciously applied Hegel's law of the transformation of quantity into quality, accomplishing a great scientific achievement. This achievement stands on par with Leverrier's calculation of the orbit of the then-unknown planet, Neptune." The material world is visible, but its mystery often lies in the structure of its constituent elements. Mendeleev made a pioneering contribution in this regard—developing the periodic table of elements. It is precisely because this great discovery holds profound significance that Mendeleev was hailed as the "Guardian Angel of Russian Science!"