Book to Note

William B. Jensen, editor. Mendeleev on the Periodic Law: Selected Writings, 1869–1905. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005. 314 pp. $19.95.

Reviewed by Ted Benfey

Dmitri Mendeleev’s periodic law is the chemist’s central organizing principle. William Jensen has chosen 13 of Mendeleev’s publications (all of which were translated into German, French, or English during his lifetime) that illuminate his developing ideas on periodicity. Some of these writings appear here in English for the first time; others have been corrected or translated. The book is divided into three chronological sections covering the origins of Mendeleev’s thoughts on periodicity, priority disputes concerning its discovery, and its eventual acceptance and recognition. What stands out throughout the book is Mendeleev’s extraordinary breadth and depth of knowledge of the elements known in his time.