Dmitri Mendeleev

12 Pages 2908 Words

itri grew older, it became apparent to everyone that Dmitri understood complex topics better than others did. When Dmitri turned 14 and entered school in Tobolsk, a second major family tragedy occurred-his mother’s glass factory burned down to the ground. The family had no money to rebuild the factory, except for the money that Dmitri’s mother had saved for him to attend a university. Maria wasn’t about to give up her dreams that she had for her son and she knew that Dmitri’s only hope to go on to school was to win a scholarship. Maria constantly pushed Dmitri to improve his grades and prepare for his entrance exams. At a very young age, Dmitri had already known that he wanted to study science and decided to pay very little attention in classes such as Latin and history. He believed that these topics were a waste of time and he wouldn’t need him in his career as a scientist. After much pleading from his mother and Bessargin, Dmitri passed his exams and prepared to enter the university. In 1849, Maria packed up her life and family and moved to Moscow, because there was nothing left for them in Aremziansk anymore. They settled in a city with a considerable amount of political unrest, which meant that the universities there were very reluctant to accept anyone from outside of Moscow. Dmitri was rejected. Maria still had hope for him, so she then took her family and moved to St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg was in the same state as Moscow, but the family found an old friend of Dmitri’s father working at the Pedagogical Institute, his father’s old school. After a little persuasion, Dmitri was allowed to take the exams and passed with grades that landed him a full scholarship. Dmitri entered the university’s science teacher training program in the fall of 1850. Maria died very soon after Dmitri was accepted to the university and so did his sister, Elizabeth. Both died due to tuberculosis. Dmitri was left alone to face his work a...