Dmitrii Mendeleev: It's a name we recognize, but only as the disheveled scientist pictured in our high school chemistry textbook, the creator of the periodic table of elements. Until now, little has been known about the man, but A Well-Ordered Thing draws a portrait of this chemist in three full dimensions. Historian Michael Gordin also details Mendeleev's complex relationship with the Russian Empire that was his home. From his attack on Spiritualism to his humiliation at the hands of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences, from his near-mythical hot-air balloon trip to his failed voyage to the Arctic, this is the story of an extraordinary man deeply invested in the good of his country. And the ideals that shaped his work in politics and culture were the same ones that led a young chemistry professor to start putting elements on order. Mendeleev was a loyal subject of the Tsar, but he was also a maverick who thought that only an outsider could perfect a modern Russia. A Well-Ordered Thing is a fascinating glimpse into the world of Imperial Russia — and into the life of one of its most notorious minds.

"The periodic table of the elements, present in virtually every high school and college chemistry classroom, was conceptualized in large part by the 19th-century Russian chemist Dmitrii Mendeleev. Mendeleev's work was critically important because it brought intellectual order to the many elements and greatly advanced our understanding of how they function. To this day, his work provides a context that enables students' entry into the complexities of chemistry. In this fluid intellectual biography, Gordin, a historian of science and of Russian history at Princeton, focuses on Mendeleev's professional years and puts his scientific activities in the context of the rapidly evolving Russian state. Gordin demonstrates that Mendeleev was adept at using the media to advance his career while attempting to build respect for the role of scientists in a changing society. For example, he played a central role in a scientific endeavor to debunk the spiritualist movement that was spreading rapidly throughout Russia in the 1870s by placing scientific controls on seances. Known during his lifetime as Russia's leading scientist, Mendeleev helped shape imperial policy on a range of scientific and public issues, from taxation to academic policy and from meteorology to metrology. Although Gordin's topic is fascinating, his presentation will be best suited to those with considerable knowledge of Russian history and of science." Black and white photos. Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Gordin (history, Princeton U.) does not provide a traditional biography of polymath Russian scientist Mendeleev (1834-1907), but places his various endeavors and accomplishments--of which the periodic table of elements is the best known--within the social, cultural, and political milieu of late-19th-Century Saint Petersburg.
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The story of Dmitrii Mendeleev is told in full for the first time, illuminating the role of this remarkable man of science in bringing the Russian Empire out of the dark ages during the nineteenth century, thus paving the way for the rationalism of the Soviet Union. 25,000 first printing.

Though he's best known as the creator of the periodic table of elements, historian Gordin also details Mendeleev's complex relationship with the Russian Empire--from his attack on Spiritualism to his humiliation at the hands of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences to his failed voyage to the Arctic.