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Vol. 32 No. 1
January-February 2010

Conference Call | Reports from recent conferences and symposia 
See also www.iupac.org/indexes/Conferences

Mendeleev’s 175 Anniversary in Tobolsk

by Oleg M. Nefedov, Natalia P. Tarasova,* and Stepan N. Kalmykov

Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834–1907) was born in a small village near Tobolsk, the historic capital of Siberia that is nowadays famous for its oil and gas exploration and petrochemical industry. In September 2009, an international conference on Mendeleev and His Impact on the Development of Science took place in Tobolsk, now part of the Tyumen Oblast, Russia. The conference was organized and supported by the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Tyumen Oblast government.

IUPAC representatives at the Mendeleev conferences (from left): Peter Mahaffy, Jung-Il Jin, and Nicole Moreau.

Among the nearly 150 attendees at the conference, were scientists from Russia, South Korea, France, Germany, USA, Canada, Switzerland, and Japan. IUPAC was represented by its president, Jung-Il Jin; vice-president, Nicole J. Moreau; and Peter Mahaffy, chair of the Committee on Chemistry Education. The Russian Academy of Sciences was represented by 18 full members and corresponding members, including the president of RAS, academician Yuri Osipov.

The conference featured a ceremony at which a special agreement between the Tyumen Oblast region and the RAS was signed by Tyumen Oblast Governor Vladimir Yakushev and RAE President Yuri Osipov. The agreement covers topics of joint research and development in different areas of chemistry, physics, nanotechnology, and education.

A round table discussion on the first day of the conference, chaired by RAS vice president Sergey Aldoshin, brought together representatives of RAS, IUPAC, industry, and young scientists. The importance of Mendeleev’s discovery of periodic law was addressed Jung-Il Jin. He also pointed out the role that IUPAC plays in modern science by maintaining a common language among chemists. “Imagine if chemists in different countries called the same chemical elements by different names . . .” he said. “This is the role of IUPAC, to unite chemists, to develop their language.” The discussion then moved to problems with how science, business, and industry interact in Russia and how this affects the development of an innovative atmosphere.

The conference program included invited presentations by top scientists in different branches of chemistry, nanotechnology, and the history of science. The conference was opened by Osipov, Yakushev, and Jin.

The scientific program started with the presentation by Pavel Sarkisov of the Mendeleev Chemical Technological University in Moscow, who is also the president of the Russian Chemical Society. In his talk, entitled “D.I. Mendeleev and His Contribution to Russian and World Science,” he presented many unknown facts and details of Mendeleev’s life and scientific career. Next, S.V. Slinkin discussed the life of Mendeleev in Tobolsk. The fist day of the conference ended with a banquet in honor of Osipov and Yakushev.

Mendeleev statue in Tobolsk.

The next day of the conference began with a talk by Sergey Aldoshin of the Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics on nanotechnology applications of photo-shiftable magnets. Nicole Moreau presented results of studies of biological activity screening of different natural and synthetic products. Her talk was followed by academician Yuri Zolotov of Moscow State University, who discussed the scientific and social atmosphere in which Mendeleev lived. He presented many new facts about the teachers and progeny of Mendeleev and how they affected his life and scientific and social career. He showed that Mendeleev also made an impact on economics, physics, natural resource management, geography, and other fields. Armin de Meijere of Universität Göttingen (Germany), who is an expert in organic chemistry, presented a talk entitled “Mendeleev and the Mutual Stimulation of Russian and German Chemistry.”

The next session, chaired by academician Boris Myasoedov, dealt with nuclear chemistry, physics, and properties of newly discovered super heavy elements. David Clark of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA, presented a lecture on the discovery of plutonium and how that discovery was in complete agreement with the periodicity of properties of chemical elements formulated by Mendeleev. Sergey Dmitriev of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna and Heinz Gäggeler of the Paul Sherer Institute in Switzerland showed new data and achievements in the field of synthesis of new super heavy elements and studies of their properties. They demonstrated the similarity in chemical behavior of elements with atomic numbers 112–120 to their lower atomic number group members that completely supports Mendeleev’s concept despite the relativistic effects of super heavy element’s atoms. This may enable the search for isotopes of super heavy elements from the so-called “island of stability” in the environment. Such a project was started in a low-level underground laboratory in Switzerland. Mark Stoyer of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA, presented the results of fundamental studies in the field of nuclear physics. David Hobard discussed the history of the Mendeleev Table and showed pictures of different goods (e.g., neckties, mouse pads, tee-shirts) that display images of the periodic table.

The Tobolsk Kremlin.

The last day of the conference included a presentation by Vladimir Melnikov on cryoscience as it relates to the permafrost zones. The next two presentations, made by Mahaffy and Tarasova, focused on the issue of chemical education and sustainable development. Alexey Postnikov, the director of the Institute of the History of Natural Sciences and Technik in Moscow, and Masanori Kaji of Tokyo Technological University, presented the historical facts concerning Mendeleev’s discoveries. Salambek Khadziev, the director of the Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, talked about new techniques for crude oil treatment including deep and integrated processes. Valentin Parmon of the Institute of Catalysis made a presentation describing the recent achievements of the Siberian Branch of RAS. The scientific program ended with a talk by Aslan Tsivadze of the Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Moscow on the latest achievements in supramolecular and nanochemistry at his institute.

The final day of the conference continued onboard a ship that took participants to the spot where the Rivers Irtysh and Tobol meet. The sunset and gypsy songs and dances, together with the exceptional hospitality of Siberian chemists, will stay in the memories of participants forever. As will the great Russian scientist Dmitry Mendeleev.

Natalia P. Tarasova <[email protected]> is the director of the Institute of Chemistry and Problems of Sustainable Development at the D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, Russia. She is an elected member on the IUPAC Bureau and since this Janauary and member on the Executive Committee; she is also a member of the IUPAC Committee on Chemistry Education.


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