Mendeleev (sometimes spelt Mendeleyev) was born in a Siberian village, the youngest of about 17 siblings (the exact number is uncertain). His father was a schoolmaster, who lost his sight soon after Dmitri was born. His mother, who was from a family of merchants, then reopened a family glass factory and became the breadwinner.
Mendeleev had a clever, inquiring mind, but was not interested in Latin and Ancient Greek, which were the core of the school curriculum, so he did not do well at school. The husband of an older sister introduced him to scientific ideas and he began to carry out his own experiments. In 1849 Mendeleev’s mother took Dmitri and his sister Liza on a 1300-mile journey to Moscow to find a suitable education for her exceptional son. He was refused entry to Moscow University, so they travelled to St Petersburg where he gained a place at the Central Pedagogical Institute to study mathematics and natural science. He was soon carrying out original experiments and his first papers were published while he was an undergraduate.
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