Mendeleevs

Mendeleevs is a plural-form reference to people who bear the surname Mendeleev (or Mendeleyev in the more traditional Russian transliteration). The name is most closely associated with Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, a Russian chemist whose work had a lasting impact on the science of elements and their relationships.

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834–1907) is best known for formulating the periodic law and creating the periodic table of elements. In 1869 he proposed that elements could be arranged in a systematic table according to increasing atomic weight, with properties that repeated periodically. He predicted the existence and properties of several yet-undiscovered elements, leaving gaps in the table to accommodate them, and famously forecast the existence of eka-silicon, later identified as germanium. His framework organized chemical knowledge in a way that enabled more accurate predictions of element behavior and laid the foundation for modern chemistry.

Beyond Dmitri, the surname Mendeleev (or its variants) belongs to a small number of individuals, including relatives and other scientists, though none achieved the same broad influence on chemistry as Dmitri. In English usage, the spelling Mendeleev is common, while Mendeleyev reflects the original Russian transliteration; the plural Mendeleevs can be used to refer collectively to people bearing the name in discussions.

Legacy of the name appears in institutions and awards named after Dmitri Mendeleev, such as the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia. The term Mendeleevs thus evokes both the prominent chemist and the broader lineage of people associated with the surname.