A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table

Description

Dmitrii Mendeleev (1834–1907) is a name we recognize, but perhaps only as the creator of the periodic table of elements. Generally, little else has been known about him. A Well-Ordered Thing is an authoritative biography of Mendeleev that draws a multifaceted portrait of his life for the first time. As Michael Gordin reveals, Mendeleev was not only a luminary in the history of science, he was also an astonishingly wide-ranging political and cultural figure. From his attack on Spiritualism to his failed voyage to the Arctic and his near-mythical hot-air balloon trip, this is the story of an extraordinary maverick. The ideals that shaped his work outside science also led Mendeleev to order the elements and, eventually, to engineer one of the most fascinating scientific developments of the nineteenth century. A Well-Ordered Thing is a classic work that tells the story of one of the world’s most important minds. Cover Title Page Copyright Page CONTENTS List of Figures Preface to the Revised Edition Preface Note to the Reader 1. Introduction: Autocracy and Mr. Mendeleev Liberalism in the Name of Autocracy Making Sense of the Man 2. Elements of the System: Building Periodicity and a Scientific Petersburg The Education of Dmitrii Mendeleev Principles of Chemistry and the Periodic System System into Law: Making Periodicity Natural Clairvoyance: The Eka-Elements The Vindication of Prophecy: The Eka-Discoveries Conclusion: Gathering the Elements of the System 3. The Ideal Gas Lawyer: Expanding Science on the Banks of the Neva True Bedrock: The Cultural Significance of Ether Confined Spaces: The Prosecution of the Gas Project Clearing the Atmosphere: Strategies of Publication The Weather Overground: Mendeleev’s Meteorology Plagued by Theory: Abandoning Gases 4. Chasing Ghosts: Spiritualism and the Struggle for Public Knowledge Made in America, Remade in Russia: The Transfer of Spiritualism Spiritualism in 1875: Tenuous Cooperation Spiritualism in 1876: A Meltdown of Method Public Spirited: Spinning the Commission At Wit’s End: Spiritualism after the Commission 5. The Great Reaction: Everyone against the Academy of Sciences Social Climbing: The Academy and the Physico-Chemical Society The Ballot Booth: Voting on Mendeleev Tempest in the Teapot: Russian Chemists Outside the Teapot: The Great Newspaper War Back Rooms: Why Was Mendeleev Rejected? To Thine Own Self: The Making of a New Mendeleev 6. The Imperial Turn: Economics, Evolution, and Empire The Two Petersburgs: Mendeleev’s Early Economics Real Economics: Mendeleev and the Russian Economy Theoretical Economics: The Evolution of Societies Theoretical Politics: Governments and Populations Measure of All the Russias: Mendeleev and the Metric Reform Conclusion: Virtuous Circles 7. Making Newtons: Romantic Journeys toward Genius Out of Siberia: Romantic Biography Russian Newton: Mendeleev the Lawgiver Northward Bound: The Arctic Project Full of Hot Air: Mendeleev, Aeronaut The Limits of Romance: Mendeleev Leaves Petersburg University 8. Disintegration: Fighting Revolutions with Faith Chemistry under Attack: Disintegration in Fin-de-Siècle Physical Sciences Pondering the Imponderable: The Chemical Ether Tripartite Metaphysics: Mendeleev in the Abstract Things Fall Apart: The Revolution of 1905 9. Conclusion: The Many Mendeleevs Acknowledgments to the Revised Edition Notes Bibliography Index