Historical Profile: Dmitri Mendeleev


Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834 – 1907) was a Russian chemist.  Mendeleev is credited with formulating the Periodic Law and he also established a version of the periodic table of elements.  Mendeleev also helped create the first oil refinery in Russia. 

Mendeleev claimed to have seen his “Periodic System” in a dream: “I saw in a dream a table where all elements fell into place as required.  Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper, only in one place did a correction later seem necessary.” 

In 1869, Mendeleev became one of the founders of the Russian Chemical Society.

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