Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest For the Elements

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When the Princeton historian of science Michael Gordin reviewed this article as part of an analysis of the accuracy of Wikipedia for the 14 December 2005 issue of Nature, he cited as one of Wikipedia's errors that "They say Mendeleev is the 14th child. He is the 14th surviving child of 17 total. 14 is right out." However in a January 2006 article in The New York Times, it was noted that in Gordin's own 2004 biography of Mendeleev, he also had the Russian chemist listed as the 17th child, and quoted Gordin's response to this as being: "That's curious. I believe that is a typographical error in my book. Mendeleyev was the final child, that is certain, and the number the reliable sources have is 13." Gordin's book specifically says that Mendeleev's mother bore her husband "seventeen children, of whom eight survived to young adulthood", with Mendeleev being the youngest. [24] [25] Nye, Mary Jo (2016). "Speaking in Tongues: Science's centuries-long hunt for a common language". Distillations. 2 (1): 40–43 . Retrieved 22 March 2018. Taking a traditional view of intellectual history, Strathern considers the 17th century as the era when the ‘new science’ of chemistry could at last ‘shed its oriental esoteric past.’" Wall Street Journal

a b Larcher, Alf (21 June 2019). "A mother's love: Maria Dmitrievna Mendeleeva". Chemistry in Australia magazine. Royal Australian Chemical Institute. ISSN 1839-2539 . Retrieved 20 October 2019.

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This is a history of chemistry, loosely organized around Mendeleyev's discovery that the elements can be understood as a periodic table. After a brief, tantalizing look at Mendeleyev and the challenge he faced, the author leaps off into a scatter-shot history of chemistry, where he spends the bulk of his text. I would have much preferred an actual focus on Mendeleyev, who was a fascinating person. Strathern's chemical history is uneven. Some parts are thorough and interesting - particularly the Arabs and Paracelsus. However, it is unclear why Strathern chooses to linger over some personalities, while he zooms through dozens of others so rapidly that their names and achievements blur together. Paul Strathern is a Somerset Maugham prize-winning novelist, and his nonfiction works include The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: The Intersecting Lives of Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped (Bantam), Napoleon in Egypt (Bantam) and Mendeleyev’s Dream: The Quest for the Elements (Thomas Dunne). He lives in England. Mendeleev studied petroleum origin and concluded hydrocarbons are abiogenic and form deep within the earth – see Abiogenic petroleum origin. When I was in highschool, I used to ask how the periodic table was made, invented or discovered. This books really answered everything. Though it was not really a one man invention, Mendeleyev puzzled all the pieces of previously discovered elements and brought them together - to answer old question 'What is the most basic element of nature?' was it water? Earth? Air? Fire? The discovery of the periodic table lays out the basic material composition of the universe and this has done a tremendous impact to the development of modern science. Very wonderful story.

Mr. Strathern's books are well-written, clear and informed; they have a breezy wit about them. New York Times Gordin, Michael (22 December 2005). "Supplementary information to accompany Nature news article "Internet encyclopaedias go head to head" ( Nature 438, 900–901; 2005)" (PDF). Blogs.Nature.com. p.178 – via 2004. Dement, W. (1972[74]). Some must watch while some must sleep. New York: Norton [San Francisco: Freeman].I saw in a dream a table where all the elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper. Mendeleev’s 1869 handwritten draft of the periodic table Mendeleev, Dmitry Ivanovich; Jensen, William B. (2005). Mendeleev on the Periodic Law: Selected Writings, 1869–1905. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0486445717.