Mendeleyev's work had many features that were typical of advanced Russian natural science as a whole. He possessed a breadth of vision that led him into many fields of scientific work.
The main feature of Mendeleyev's work was the importance he attached to linking theoretical work with practice, with life. As an epigraph to his Foundation of Chemistry he chose the prophetic words: "What science sows the people will reap." On whatever problem he was working, all his deeds were inspired by the wish to help the development of the productive forces of his native land and to advance technique and science in Russia.
He drew up a long-term program for exploiting Russia’s extremely rich natural resources and applying chemistry to various brances of the nation’s exonomic life. He is rightly known as the initiator of the wide application of chemistry to Russian industry and agriculture.
It was Mendeleyev who conducted the first serious agrochemical research in Russia. He established the first network of agricultural experimental stations. Supervising the work of the Chamber of Weights and Measures he prepared the introduction into Russia of the metric system.
