A Well–Ordered Thing – Dmitrii Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table, Revised Edition

New
Paperback
2019
$35.90

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.

Synopsis

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.

$35.90

Quantity

13 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Edition: Revised
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 08 Jan 2019
ISBN 10: 0691172382
ISBN 13: 9780691172385

Media Reviews

Fascinating.
--Publishers Weekly

The periodic chart now hangs on the wall of countless classrooms, and occupies textbooks, websites and T-shirts. . . . Working long before nuclear scientists reached Los Alamos, Mendeleev was this kingdom's first successful cartographer.
--Simon Schaffer, London Review of Books

Engaging. . . . [T]he most comprehensive biography in English about Mendeleev.
--Ursula Klein, Physics Today

Highly readable.
--Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Nature

A serious and interesting exploration of the life and times of Dmitrii Mendeleev.
--Carmen Giunta, Foundations of Chemistry

This fine book presents a compelling portrait of Mendeleev as a Russian thinker, a member of the small cohort of Petersburg elite who shaped Russian science, politics, and culture. . . . For anyone interested in Mendeleev or the place of science in late nineteenth-century Russia, this is required reading.
--Mark B. Adams, Slavic Review

Author Bio

Michael D. Gordin is Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Princeton University, where he also serves as the Director of the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts. He is the author of six books including Scientific Babel: How Science Was Done Before and After Global English (Chicago, 2015) and Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War (Princeton, 2007). In 2011 he was named a Guggenheim Fellow and was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.