Smoking Mendeleev

In Saint Petersburg, at 19 Moskovsky Prospect, in the courtyard of the building, there is a monument to Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev. At first glance, it looks like an ordinary bronze monument, of which there are many in Petersburg. But there is a lot of interesting and even unexpected history connected with it, starting from the story of its creation.

While Dmitry Ivanovich was still alive, the famous sculptor Ilya Ginzburg made a sculptural portrait of him from life. This work was later cast in bronze and acquired by the scientist. Based on this portrait, after Mendeleev’s death, in 1930 Ginzburg, on his own initiative, made a model of the monument and donated it to the Academy of Sciences. Eight years later, at the All-Union Metrological Conference, there was a discussion about commemorating the great scientist, and the forgotten model came in handy. As a result, the monument was cast in bronze and unveiled in 1932. Three years later, a mosaic panel titled “Mendeleev’s Periodic Table of Elements,” created by the artist Frolov, was installed on the wall of the neighboring building.

The bronze Mendeleev was installed in the courtyard on Moskovsky Prospect next to the Technological Institute. The monument is revered among students as their protector and patron. At least twice a year, in spring and autumn during exams, students polish Mendeleev’s nose and shoe. The shoe is probably polished by the most cautious, while the bold ones, not afraid to climb onto the monument, are the underperforming students who polish the nose.

The shining shoe and nose look unusual, but the expression on the monument’s face is always indulgently good-natured: “Ah, fools, fools!..”

The depiction of Mendeleev looks very homely. He is comfortably seated in an armchair, with one leg crossed over the other, resting. Under the chair are books and scrolls, and on one of the books you can even read: “Chronicle of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures.” It is unclear what the open book lying on the scientist’s leg is, but if you dare to climb onto the monument along with the students, you will be disappointed—its pages are blank. Probably this symbolizes the works that Mendeleev never managed to write. Now let’s look at his left hand, where a cigarette holder is hidden, meaning the monument is secretly smoking, despite being in a public place.

Another interesting object is the panel with the image of the unified table to the left of the monument. Sixty-nine square meters — this is the largest memorial plaque in the city, a significant addition to the monument with its own secrets. It was installed for the centenary of the great chemist, albeit a year late. Elements known during Mendeleev’s lifetime are marked in red mosaic here, and those discovered after him, but predicted by him, are in blue. There is a barely noticeable spot on one of the cells.

In the original author’s table, Mendeleev marked elements unknown to science with dashes—their real names were given by their discoverers. And so the fake element “mazurium” sneaked onto this beautiful panel. In 1925, Germany announced the discovery of two elements simultaneously: rhenium and mazurium. Ida and Walter Noddack indeed managed to present rhenium, element Re No. 75, in microscopic quantities, but as for mazurium No. 43, it later turned out that the Noddacks were premature. So mazurium ended up on the memorial table by mistake, but at that time there were no mistakes, only sabotage, and considering the connection of this element with Polish nationalists (Mazury is part of historical Poland, then East Prussia), the consequences could have been unambiguous. The 43rd element (known to us as technetium – Te) was discovered in 1937. Yet it had already been on this wall for two years—under the symbol Ma—and it was painted over, like retouching portraits of leaders.

Nevertheless, the table was not completely cleaned; the symbol of another erroneous element survived on it. This is illinium, No. 61, which was believed to have been truly discovered. The 61st element was actually discovered in the 1960s and named promethium, but this time nothing was changed. Interestingly, instead of the accepted symbol Il at that time, the mosaic shows the symbol Jl. However, the Periodic Table of Elements depicted on the panel goes back to the last lifetime edition of “The Principles of Chemistry,” and unlike the symbols familiar to us—I, Ir, In—Mendeleev indicated J, Jr, Jn, which is reflected on the memorial panel. Not only was the element falsely discovered, but it also managed to sneak into the table-monument under a false name!

Source:

http://www.peterburg.biz/pamyatnik-d.i.-mendeleevu.html#ixzz6vO5slT1Q

Sergey Anatolyevich Nosov, The Secret Life of Petersburg Monuments. Full version

https://vecherka.spb.ru/?p=22721