A Well-ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev And The Shadow Of The Periodic Table [Hardcover]

Michael D. Gordin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2004

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 in 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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An academic biography, Michael D. Gordin's A Well-Ordered Thing tells Dmitri Mendeleev's story in dense prose, detailed with Russian history and molecular chemistry. Mendeleev will forever be remembered as the inventor of the periodic table of the elements, which sorts hydrogen, helium, lithium, and so on, according to their weights and properties. Readers unfamiliar with either the periodic table or the politics of Imperial Russia will have a tough go of it. Nevertheless, Gordin's treatment reveals surprising facts about the enigmatic Mendeleev and his social context.

The periodic system was developed in Russia by an individual who was ... trying to bring order to a Russian society that was apparently disintegrating.... In order to understand the building of this part of modern chemistry, one must come to terms with the attempts to create a modern Russia.

Far from a stereotypically isolated scientist surrounded by bubbling beakers and cryptic lore, the "ambitious and energetic" Mendeleev was a very public figure. He involved himself eagerly in the social problems of the day and participated actively in trying to shape a new society. His pursuits included hot-air balloons, art criticism, debunking Spiritualists, and perfecting systems of every kind. When he hit on the idea of periodicity in the elements, he published his table first in a chemistry textbook, later submitting papers to other scientists once his confidence allowed him to make predictions of elements yet to be discovered. Gordin paints Mendeleev as a consummate Imperial who was shocked by the revolution that toppled the Tsar. This complex civil servant and brilliant scientist deserves wider appreciation, and A Well-Ordered Thing provides a rich context for examination of Mendeleev's life. --Therese Littleton

From Publishers Weekly

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. B&w photos
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1st ed edition (April 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 046502775X
• ISBN-13: 978-0465027750
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,108,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Gordin is professor of history at Princeton University, where he specializes in the history of the modern physical sciences and Russian history.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating True Story of a Russian, Scientist, and Genius, December 1, 2004

By 

Stephen Pletko "Uncle Stevie" (London, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Well-ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev And The Shadow Of The Periodic Table (Hardcover)

+++++

When I studied chemistry in high school, I was taught that Mendeleev (pronounced Men-de-LAY-ev) was, due to his "Periodic Law," the inspiration behind the periodic table of chemical elements, perhaps "the most widely recognized talisman of modern science." And that was it! Nothing more was said. Thus, I thought that Mendeleev was only of importance due to his association with the periodic table. I thought this until I picked up this book and learned how wrong I was!

This extremely well researched book (that won the Basic Prize in the History of Science) by Assistant Professor of History Michael Gordin is about Dmitrii Mendeleev (1834 to 1907) and the Russian Empire.

This is not your typical (boring) biography that runs from Mendeleev's birth to his death. Gordin explains: "I concentrate on Mendeleev and the Russian Empire from [the] Emancipation [of the Serfs in 1861] to the [Russian] Revolution of 1905, the epoch of Mendeleev's greatest chemical achievements and of Russia's greatest hope for a reformed liberal state. I have selected seven major episodes from Mendeleev's life not because they were...the `most important'...but because each emphasizes a different feature of the cultural life of both Imperial [Russia] and nineteenth-century science."

You'll learn from this book that Mendeleev was more than just a chemist. His other credentials include father, author, economist, bureaucrat & public servant, meteorologist, and aviator to name just a few. Gordin elaborates: "[I]t is hard to conceive that one person occupied all the roles this man played." The author continues: "[H]is life illustrates what it was like to live and work in [Russia]." As a consequence the reader will learn much about Russia in general and about St. Petersburg (the city where Mendeleev worked) in particular during the period 1860 to 1905.

This book contains almost ten black and white illustrations and ten black and white frontispiece images. My favorite illustration is "Short-form periodic system from [an]...1870 article [written by Mendeleev]." A couple of the illustrations are too
dark.

Although not absolutely necessary, I would know some basics of general chemistry and a bit about the history of Russia during the time period concerned in order to fully enjoy this book. The author does do a good job in explaining basic chemical terms.

My only minor quibble with the book is that it gives the impression that Mendeleev was the only one that made a table of the elements. This is not quite true. However, his was the first one that was scientifically useful. Also, it would have been instructive to include in this book a modern periodic table to illustrate the modification that atomic numbers are now used instead of atomic weights (which Mendeleev used) to order the elements.

Finally, I was surprised that there was no mention of the chemical element named after Mendeleev. It's called Mendelevium (symbol Md).

In conclusion, until this book came out, Dmitrii Mendeleev's life was "shrouded in [a] historical fog." Read this book to learn why "he remains the most recognized Russian scientific name both at home and abroad!!"

(first published 2004; note to the reader; preface; introductory chapter; 7 chapters; concluding chapter; main narrative of 250 pages; acknowledgements; extensive notes; extensive bibliography; index)

+++++

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Story of a great man - by an ingenious historian, May 2, 2004

By 

Lubos Motl (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Well-ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev And The Shadow Of The Periodic Table (Hardcover)

I've heard a part of story of Mendeleev directly from Michael Gordin during the dinners in the Harvard Society of Fellows, and the discussions with Michael were always extremely insightful as well as entertaining.

One of the main reasons is that Michael knows a lot, and he is interested in everything. My feeling is that he knows more about Russian history than those who are specialized in humanities. Think about any two people whom you know and who lived in the 19th century or the early 20th century (two Russian writers, for example), and Michael will be able to tell you what was the relationship between these two people, when they met, and why it was important. What you read in this book about Mendeleev is just a fraction of what Michael could tell you about the 19th century.

Moreover, he also understands the important technical points of chemistry - in fact, not just chemistry: physics, mathematics, and other sciences are his cup of tea, too. Therefore his presentation is not superficial: you will learn the right things about the right ideas and their evolution, about the wrong ideas as well as about the influence of politics and ghosts.

Michael Gordin's Russian is very good and it helped him to understand all the relevant events and links between the contemporaries of Mendeleev as he studied the archives in St Petersburg (and perhaps also Moscow). Incidentally, he also learned Czech - which is my first language - because at some moment he decided that it is helpful to follow some old letters about chemistry.

Anyone who is interested in chemistry, history of science, or Russian history should immediately buy this book because Michael Gordin was the right person to write it, and you will certainly learn a lot about all these issues. Moreover, Mendeleev might be the most famous chemist ever and his life was rich enough to keep you excited as you read through these 300+ pages of a superb text.

4.0 out of 5 stars Deep, thought-provoking book about Russia and this great genius..., June 21, 2006

By 

K. L Sadler "Dr. Karen L. Sadler" (Freedom, Pa. USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Well-ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev And The Shadow Of The Periodic Table (Hardcover)

It's difficult to 'grade' a book that refused to stay on what the intended topic (as presented to the reader). When I ordered the book, I thought the picture of Mendeleev was a rather haunting one, that looked like so many of the great minds like Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and other minds from the slightly earlier time of the Enlightenment. This was a man who started his life in the time of horse and carriage, of gas lights, of sloppy science in Russia, and ended in the next century when his country was beset by revolution...one of the very things this authoritarian abhored.

Grodin wrote a fascinating and difficult book to read. He starts out with the information Mendeleev is most known for...the periodic table. Yet, a lot of the information here in this part of the book is almost 'circumstantial' and did not add much more than what I already knew.

However, the following chapters demonstrated that Mendeleev applied his organizational skills to many other areas in both science and social life in Russia, and though it was not expected by the reader, the information is emmensely interesting. Russia was the backwards part of Europe, just as the South was the backwards part of the United States. Mendeleev worked to bring that same organization used in chemistry to make sense of the elements to such diverse areas of need in Russia such as her economic life and the deeply engrained superstition that became so fashionable in both Russia and the U.S. and Britain at the turn of the century. All thesee countries dabbled in seances or otherworldly things in the guest to understand one of the least knowable things: death and the afterlife. Mendeleev had not patience with this kind of chicanery and strenously tried to disprove it's existence with science.

Grodin's choice for a title could only be determined through reading the book as a whole. The greatest achievement of Mendeleev shadowed his much larger life as a diplomat, as a world-class scientist trying to bring his country into a new century. Not an easy book to read, but definitely a worth-while one!

Karen Sadler
Chemistry