Vasily Mendeleev is a talented Russian engineer, inventor, author of the first Russian tank. As often happens, his projects were used only several decades later.
Biography
Vasily Dmitrievich Mendeleev was born on December 30, 1886 in St. Petersburg, where he spent his childhood and youth. Mendeleev graduated from the Kronstadt shipbuilding school of engineering in 1906. From 1908 to 1916, he worked at a shipyard as a designer of submarines, towing steamers and specialized warships used for laying minefields (minzags). At the same time, inspired by new ideas, Vasily Mendeleev is developing a project to build an armored tracked vehicle - the first tank in the history of Russian engineering. From 1919 to 1922 he worked at the Kubanol plant in the city of Yekaterinodar (now known as the Sedin Machine Tool Plant, located in the city of Krasnodar) as Vasily Dmitrievich passed away in 1922 from typhus, having lived only 35 years.
Engineer's family
The engineer's father, Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, was a great scientist who made an invaluable contribution to the development of Russian science. His achievements in the fields of chemistry, physics, geology, economics and metrology are known to everyone. One of his most significant discoveries is the periodic system of chemical elements, which is one of the unique laws of the universe, on the basis of which all natural sciences about the phenomena and patterns of living nature were literally “grown.” But Vasily Mendeleev can rightfully be proud of the merits of his other relatives.
His mother, Anna Ivanovna Mendeleeva (née Popova), half Russian, half Swedish, was a talented artist and devoted most of her life to raising children. Vasily Dmitrievich's elder sister, Lyubov Blok, is the wife of the poet Alexander Alexandrovich Blok, an actress. Vasily also had a twin sister, Maria, a famous Russian dog handler and expert. In Great Britain, she bred a new breed of dog from the group of cops - the English Setter. And finally, Vasily Mendeleev’s brother, Ivan, is known for his services in the field of Russian philosophy and metrology.
Ingenious inventor
Vasily Mendeleev made many discoveries in his professional field. The project of a tank, an armored, armed tracked combat vehicle is a vivid example of his sensational developments. From his famous father, the young engineer inherited an inquisitive mind and a thirst for invention, which determined his life path.
For four years, he devoted all his free time from studying to developing a project for a combat vehicle that could both provide protection to the attacker and hit the enemy at the same time.
Vast experience in the field of military shipbuilding helped the shipbuilding engineer to design a combat vehicle. His project was a very bright, bold and original work, the implementation of which was carried out in the later practice of building military equipment. His development was less a tank, and more a real fortress on caterpillar tracks in the shape of a rectangular box. For the first time in the concept, the inventor proposed anti-ballistic armor and demarcated protection.
The project was published in 1911. Vasily Mendeleev decided to present it to the Russian military department, which did not immediately note the importance of this invention. Therefore, before becoming famous, the developments of the talented designer were covered with dust in the archive for a very long time.
However, Mendeleev’s design immediately found its application in the naval defense of Petrograd.
“The armor is strong, and our tanks are fast...”
Sketches of two variants of the combat vehicle have survived to this day, as well as calculations competently performed by Mendeleev and a detailed explanatory note in which the engineering genius argued for the need to implement the project. He proposed to equip his invention with a 120-mm cannon located in the bow of the armored hull, and a powerful weapon placed in a rotating turret, which could rise and fall under the influence of a pneumatic drive. In addition, Vasily Dmitrievich provided thorough armor protection. At the front of the vehicle the thickness of the armor was 150 mm, and at the stern and along the sides it was about 100 mm.
The internal combustion engine he developed with a power of about 250 horsepower reached speeds of up to 24 km/h. The crew size could be eight people. With his development, the inventor foresaw grandiose technical discoveries that were realized only decades later.
Vasily Mendeleev provided tanks with gasoline in the aft part of the structure above the bottom in isolated compartments.
The gearbox had four gears for forward movement and one gear for reverse movement. And finally, Vasily Dmitrievich’s combat vehicle was supposed to be provided with four control posts, thanks to which any of the crew could take control in the event of the death or injury of the driver. But, sadly, the Ministry of War did not accept Mendeleev’s project, arguing that the implementation of this invention was impossible. And the creator of the world's first tank was forgotten over time.
Invention of air suspension
The scientist also considered the use of the bottom of the hull, which would make it possible to further adjust the ground clearance from maximum to minimum values and would have the ability to operate in two modes - blocked and independent. Thanks to this invention, the tank could move with its hull half lowered, and also, on occasion, lower the hull of the vehicle to the ground. According to Mendeleev, changing the ground clearance in the heat of battle could protect the vulnerable chassis of the car. This idea was subsequently put into practice only in 1942 with the creation of the heavy self-propelled mortar "Thor".
In conclusion
A Russian design engineer, a talented inventor, the developer of the project for the first Russian tank - this was Vasily Mendeleev. The biography covers his short but very eventful life as a genius of domestic engineering. Unfortunately, his works were appreciated only after his death. The designer’s extraordinary invention did not find support from the ministry for a long time. The grandiose project was subsequently carried out by the followers of the brilliant Russian engineer, who was Vasily Mendeleev. Unfortunately, almost no photos of it have survived, but many drawings and drawings of the famous tank are available.
Developer: V.D.Medeleev
Getting started on the project: 1911
Manufacturing a prototype: not produced
The fate of the project: the project was not implemented due to the outbreak of war and the subsequent October revolution
Fig.6 Vasily Dmitrievich Mendeleev
Shipbuilding engineer Vasily Dmitrievich Mendeleev (1886-1922), the son of the Russian scientist chemist D.I. Mendeleev, creates a project for a tracked combat vehicle that is fundamentally new for that time. He began working on it back in 1911 (!).
In the period from 1911 to 1915, in his free time from his main work at the shipbuilding plant, V.D. Mendeleev developed a project for a fundamentally new combat vehicle. In the first version, it was planned to install a 120 mm cannon (placed in the front part of the armored hull) and a machine gun (a rotating turret placed on top) on a 170-ton vehicle. The gun's ammunition consisted of 51 rounds. And the thickness of the armor ranged from 150 mm in the bow to 100 mm in the stern and along the sides. It was expected that the maximum speed at which this unit could move would be 24 km/h. Crew - 8 people.
When developing this combat vehicle, Mendeleev Jr. used the latest developments in domestic military shipbuilding, which made it possible to create a truly unique design that had no analogues in the world in many design solutions.
August 24, 1916, still BEFORE After the first tanks appeared on the battlefields of World War I, V.D. Mendeleev sent to the War Ministry a set of documents on the new vehicle, accompanied by a note with the following content: “I present herewith a preliminary design of the Armored Vehicle of my system... If it deserves attention, “then I humbly ask you to indicate the institution of the Military Ministry to which I should submit the mentioned draft design for consideration.”
Rice. 7 Mendeleev’s “Armored Car” on the battlefield. Copy model
In contrast to the projects of “land battleships”, “bombarding self-running carriages”, “assault carriages”, etc., which were received in abundance by the GVTU at that time, the preliminary design provided to them was carefully worked out and designed according to all the rules. The description of his “Armored Vehicle” was divided into chapters. There were: tables of weights, specifications, internal crew accommodation, calculation of transportation by rail, calculation of the supporting surface, etc.
Mendeleev proposed a “ship” version of the assembly. The frame was made up of frames and stringers, onto which solid-rolled armor plates were attached. Moreover, the reservation was designed in such a way that it was supposed to protect the crew from being hit by six-inch (152 mm) armor-piercing shells. The main weapon of the "Armored Vehicle" was the 120 mm Kane cannon, mounted on a pedestal mount. Vertical guidance was provided by the mechanism of the gun itself, horizontal guidance by turning the vehicle body. Ammunition was supplied via a suspended monorail, on which roller feed carts were attached. The armored vehicle's ammunition load consisted of 51 shots, of which one was in the cannon breech, four were on carts, and the rest were in the “cruise chamber” (the naval hardening of the engineer was evident). A circular rotation turret with a Maxim machine gun was installed in the central part of the hull. As an engine, V.D. Mendeleev proposed a 250-horsepower water-cooled automobile engine, launched from compressed air.
Above are drawings made from original documents developed by designer V.D. Mendeleev and engineer R. Kazachkov.
The fuel tanks were located under the bottom of the rear part of the hull, i.e. were removed from the armored space, which significantly increased the survivability of the vehicle. The “armored vehicle” had a four-speed gearbox and a differential-type rotary mechanism.
Rice. 8 Mendeleev’s “Armored Car” in section
The caterpillars, in their upper part, were covered by the body. The track rollers had independent air suspension and were balanced along the side. Its design allowed it to work as a blocked one during slow oscillations and as an individual one during fast oscillations of the body. At the same time, the dynamic stroke of each shock absorber was 1500 mm, which allowed the vehicle to maintain longitudinal and lateral stability when driving over difficult rough terrain.
This design made it possible for the tank to move with its hull half-lowered, and, if necessary, to lie completely on the ground. A similar suspension is currently used on the latest models of Russian BMD. This technical discovery simultaneously solved a dual problem: it made it possible to protect the most vulnerable part of the structure (the chassis) and relieve the latter from the high loads arising during the firing process.
To fire, the vehicle lay on the ground with the bottom of the hull. The Germans were able to implement a similar design only a quarter of a century later, in 1942, in the design of the German 600-mm self-propelled mortar "Thor". Somewhat later, this issue was technically partially resolved in the designs of British tanks for airborne landings: “Harry Hopkins” and “Tetrarch”. The tracks had adjustable tension... Why not self-propelled guns of the forties?
To solve the issue of transporting this tank over long distances, the design provided for the possibility of installing it on railway tracks and then towing it with a steam locomotive or moving the latter under its own power (Soviet designers partially returned to this idea when developing variants of the BT-5 tank).
To make it easier to control the tank, the design included pneumatic servos that operated the gearbox, main clutch and turning mechanism.
Rice. 9 Longitudinal section
Rice. 10 Plan view
This design was backed up by mechanical control drives. Mendeleev also mechanized the procedure for feeding gun shots, which significantly increased the rate of fire. There was also a mechanism for lowering the upper turret into the hull when transporting the tank over long distances. Pneumatics were also used to make it easier for the crew to adjust the tension of the tracks.
All installed pneumatics were powered by a special compressor connected directly to the main engine.
Rice. 11 Mendeleev’s “Armored Car” appearance. Reconstruction
To increase the survivability of the tank in battle, Mendeleev provided as many as 4 control posts.
For the first time in the world, this prototype of a tank was equipped with projectile-proof armor, and also had armor protection of different thicknesses depending on the importance of a particular unit for survivability and combat effectiveness (differentiated armor protection).
The crew consisted of 8 people. Moreover, the commander did not have a permanent workplace, but chose it depending on the tasks being solved: when performing a march - near the “steering” (driver), in battle - he led the crew, conducted observation, etc. The “steersman” also had two jobs: in battle inside the vehicle, and on the march – in the front part on the roof of the “Armored Vehicle”, driving the vehicle from a removable control post.
A detailed pneumatic system solved the problems of controlling the main clutch, starting the engine, raising the turret, tensioning the tracks, air intake blinds, etc.
The compartments were illuminated by 16 light bulbs powered by 24V batteries. The electrical network consisted of 4 groups of batteries and a generator.
The drawings were made by engineer R. Kazachkov from original project materials stored in the Central State Military Historical Archive.
The estimated weight of the "Armored Vehicle" was supposed to be 173.2 tons. Dimensions: 13000 (with a gun)/10000 (without) mm - length, height with a turret - 4450, without 3500, lying on the ground - 2800/3800 mm, respectively. The width of the car is 4400 mm, the ground clearance is 700 mm.
Especially for working on this project, the designer studied the “Motorism Course”. The “armored vehicle” was supposed to reach a speed of about 24 km/h and overcome inclines of up to 25 degrees. The planned turning radius was to be 10 m.
Taking into account the structural complexity of the machine to master its mass production in Russia and the fact that electrical equipment and the engine would have to be purchased abroad, V.D. Mendeleev developed a “lightweight” version of the machine. The vehicle was much weaker armored, but had more powerful weapons: two machine guns and a 127 mm cannon.
The characteristics of the vehicle did not allow the vehicle to be used directly on the battlefield. But the designer did not set this task for his brainchild. In essence, the “Armored Vehicle” was a well-protected mobile firing point, a kind of “pillbox” on tracks.
Rice. 12 Section through the suspension compartment
Such a vehicle could be effectively used for anti-landing or coastal defense, or used in fortress warfare. Mendeleev's developments in 1933 formed the basis for the project of a tracked coastal defense self-propelled gun designed by A.A. Tolochkov, which was armed with a B-10 naval gun of 152 mm caliber.
Rice. 13 Tank in firing position
Mendeleev’s “Armored Vehicle” is rightfully considered the first Russian project of such a combat vehicle. And, despite the fact that it “settled” in the archival bowels of the State Technical University and, by and large, did not have any significant impact on the further development of domestic tank building, we can consider it as a standard of integrity and technical culture of that time.
Rice. 14 “Armored car” by Mendeleev. Reconstruction
The name "Armored Vehicle" appeared later. The designer himself called the car “an armored car of my system.” But I took the liberty of using it in this article. The illustration posted in this article, according to experts, also does not quite correspond to the description drawn up by the designer. But, unfortunately, I did not find another image.
Neither the fact that this model was never adopted for service, nor its inherent shortcomings detract from the merits of Mendeleev, who created an advanced project for its time and proposed so many new design solutions that they were resorted to (and continue to be resorted to at the present time) designers of armored vehicles from around the world.
Tactical and technical characteristics of the “Armored Vehicle” of V.D. Mendeleev
| Year of project development | 1911 – 1915 |
| Design weight (t) | 173,2 |
| Length with gun forward (mm) | 13000 |
| Body length / width / ground clearance (mm) | 10000 / ? / 700 |
| Height with tower raised / with tower retracted (mm) | 4450 / 3500 |
| Average specific ground pressure (kg/sq.cm) | 2,5 – 2,8 |
| Engine type/power (hp) | Carburetor / 250 |
| Maximum speed (km/h) | 24 |
| Reservation front / side, roof, stern (mm) | 150 / 100 |
| Crew (persons) | 8 |
| Armament | Kahn gun (one) 120 mm caliber, 51 rounds of ammunition Maxim machine gun (one) 7.62 mm caliber |
Fascinated by the poems of Alexander Blok, I learned that little Sasha Blok, the grandson of the chemist Beketov, and Lyubochka Mendeleeva, Mendeleev’s daughter, grew up together, then grew up, and having met in adulthood, felt an interest in each other and got married. The marriage was not very successful. complicated, but that's another story. And just recently I read that Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev had two families: his first wife with the amazing name Feozva bore him three children: Maria, Vladimir and Olga. Maria died in infancy, but Volodya grew up and pleased his father with his academic success.
Volodya Mendeleev (1865 - 1898) and his mother Feozva (Fiza) Nikitichna, born. Leshcheva.
The boy walks in the garden and reads books, takes up photography with his father; he dreams of the sea and is preparing to enter the Naval School. His father encourages him to study seriously; he knows that from the Naval School they go not only into the navy, but also into science, and you need to get used to serious scientific literature from a young age.
http://www.library.spbu.ru/bbk/bookcoll/priormat/p15.php.
Volodya connected his life with the sea. he graduated from the Naval School and served as an officer in the navy. In 1890, he was assigned to the frigate "Memory of Azov", on which Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich (future Emperor Nicholas II) was supposed to go to Greece, Egypt, and India. Ceylon, Hong Kong and at the end of the trip to Japan. The highest visit ended in a scandal: one of the police, motivated by samurai complexes, wounded the Tsarevich with a sword. During the investigation of this incident, Vladimir worked as a photographer in the investigation team, because... his father taught him the principles of photography. At this time, Vladimir, living in Nagasaki, entered into a temporary marriage with a Japanese woman. This was a common procedure for European sailors. In 1893, Vladimir and his wife Taki Hideshima had a daughter, Ofuji, whom Vladimir never saw because "Memory of Azov" returned to Russia. Vladimir retired in Russia. became an inspector of maritime education and married the daughter of the painter K. Lemokh, Varvara. In 1898 he contracted influenza and died. DI. Mendeleev always remembered the “Japanese granddaughter”; he received a letter from Taki, and after the death of his beloved son, Mendeleev sent money to Japan. By the way, he was also on the deck of the frigate “Memory of Azov” among the persons accompanying Tsarevich Nicholas.
Vladimir Mendeleev (1865 - 1898). Vladimir's Japanese wife with daughter Ofuji.
Vladimir died suddenly on December 19, 1898. “My clever, loving, gentle, good-natured first-born son, on whom I counted part of my behests, died, since I knew lofty and truthful, modest and at the same time deep thoughts for the benefit of the homeland, unknown to others, with which he was imbued." - wrote D.I. Mendeleev.
in 1899, he prepared for publication Vladimir’s unfinished work “Project for raising the level of the Azov Sea by damming the Kerch Strait.”
Olga Mendeleeva (1868 - 1950), Trirogova.
Vladimir's younger sister, Olga Dmitrievna Mendeleeva, in her marriage to Trirogova (1868 - 1950), bred hunting dogs before the revolution, and after the revolution she worked with service dogs. She wrote a book about her family, which was published in 1947. These are the children of D.I. Mendeleev from his first marriage. But at the age of 43, Dmitry Ivanovich fell passionately in love with a young girl of eighteen, Anna Popova from Uryupinsk (daughter of a Cossack). There were four children in this marriage: Lyubov (born 1881), Ivan (born 1883), twins Maria and Vasily (born 1886).
Lyubov Dmitrievna graduated from the Higher Women's Courses, studied in drama clubs, and had extraordinary acting abilities. In 1907 - 1908 she played in the troupe of V.E. Meyerhold and at the V.F. Theater Komissarzhevskaya. In 1903, Lyubov married the poet Alexander Blok. She was the heroine of his poems dedicated to the Beautiful Lady. Lyubov Dmitrievna died in 1939: she was walking across the room and fell, already dead.
Ivan Dmitrievich (1883-1936) was perhaps the most creatively gifted person. He helped his aging father a lot, for example, he performed complex calculations for his economic works. Thanks to Ivan, a posthumous edition of the scientist’s work “Addition to the Knowledge of Russia” was published. From 1924 until his death, Ivan worked in the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures, thus continuing his father’s work. Here he conducted research on the theory of scales and the design of thermostats. He was one of the first in the USSR to study the properties of heavy water. From a young age, Ivan was no stranger to philosophical problems.. There was complete mutual understanding and trust between father and son. Ivan Dmitrievich died in 1936.
Anna Mendeleeva - second wife of Lyubov Mendeleeva (1881 - 1939)
DI. Mendeleev.
Ivan Mendeleev (1883-1936) Vasily Mendeleev (1886 - 1922).
Little is known about Dmitry Ivanovich’s youngest son, Vasily (1886 - 1922): he entered the Marine Engineering School in Kronstadt, but did not graduate. He was also a creative person, he worked as a designer at St. Petersburg shipyards, developing projects for submarines and minelayers. It is known that Vasily Mendeleev developed a model of a super-heavy tank. However, against the will of his mother, Vasily married a simple girl Fena. Over time, he quit his job, and he and Fenya went to her relatives in Kuban, where he died of typhus in 1922. His twin sister Maria graduated from the Higher Women's Agricultural Courses and worked for a long time as a teacher in various technical schools. She was considered a major specialist in breeding pointing dogs, and after the war she was in charge of her father’s museum at Leningrad University. She had a daughter, Ekaterina Kamenskaya, in 1983 she was still alive. She searched for her calling for a long time. tried to become an artist, actress, then entered the history department of Leningrad University and became a specialist in the history and culture of the peoples of Polynesia. At one time she worked in the Kunstkamera. At the beginning of the 21st century, her son Alexander, the great-grandson of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, was still alive. He could be about 73 years old now.
Granddaughter of D.I. Mendeleev - Ekaterina She is with her son Alexander.
Kamenskaya.
http://scandaly.ru/2013/10/25/himiya-sudbyi/
Unfortunately, the fate of Ekaterina Mendeleeva-Kamenskaya is very sad. At first everything was fine: studies, husbands, son. Mom works at the D.I. Mendeleev Museum. This is Catherine’s home. She took all D.I.’s valuables there. Mendeleev. They have become museum treasures. And in her old age she found herself without a livelihood, and her grandfather’s things belonged to the state. It didn’t even remember about the scientist’s granddaughter. The fate of Sasha, Mendeleev’s great-grandson, is even sadder: he was in prison for fighting, then he couldn’t get a job, he drank. Further fate is unknown.
We have already written that the great Russian scientist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev studied not only chemistry, but also, for example, . His son, Vasily Mendeleev, also made his contribution to science. We present to you an article from the magazine "Technology-Youth" for September 1949, which tells about the project of a heavy tank developed by Vasily Mendeleev.
We have already introduced readers to the first Russian tanks.
We are now publishing new data on the design of heavy tanks.
Long before the First World War, the Russian Ministry of War received a project for an extraordinary combat vehicle, developed by the son of the famous Russian chemist, Vasily Dmitrievich Mendeleev.
The Mendeleev combat vehicle project is a talented project of a super-heavy tank, the design of which was a decade ahead of all the development of tank technology. Many elements of the periodic machine look modern these days.
Mendeleev designed a tank weighing 170 tons, serviced by a team of 8 people. It was a huge armored box, with tracks necessary for movement, an engine and ammunition hidden inside.
During movement, the caterpillars, using compressed air, were supposed to lift the armored hull above the ground and ensure the movement of the tank at speeds of up to 24 km per hour.
In addition to the cannon, Mendeleev intended to arm the tank with a machine gun installed in a special retractable armored turret that allowed all-round firing.
Mendeleev's project is distinguished by a large number of extremely daring design solutions that found application in tank equipment of foreign armies much later.
Thus, lowering the tank hull onto the ground when firing was used in German self-propelled gun mounts only in 1942. The use of compressed air to lift the hull and to create an air suspension for the rollers was used by British designers on airborne tanks only in the first years of the Second World War.
Mendeleev also provided for the possibility of transporting his tanks self-propelled by rail; his tank could be placed on railway ramps.
Four control posts ensured the survivability of the combat vehicle even in the event of the death of part of its crew.
1 - armored hull, 2 - lifting machine-gun armored turret, 3 - 120-mm gun, 4 - tracked propulsion, 5 - internal combustion engine, 6 - transmission from the engine to the tracks, 7 - compressed air cylinders, 8 - air-suspension rollers , 9 - ammunition for the gun, 10 - fuel tanks, 11 - battery, 12 - engine cooling radiators.
The technical committee of the main military-technical department of the tsarist army, where the project was transferred, drowned Mendeleev’s talented invention in bureaucratic red tape. This project was never implemented.
But the bureaucrats from the War Ministry failed to bury the idea of the tank.
Before the British and French, in August 1914, the creation of the world's first operational tank was completed at the machine-building plant in Riga. It was an amphibious tank by A. Porokhovshchikov, which we already wrote about in our magazine.
Mendeleev, Dmitry Ivanovich (1834-1907).
On barometric leveling and the use of an altimeter for it: With a table of drawings / [Oc.] D. Mendeleev. – St. Petersburg: Type. Dept. Udelov, 1876. – , VIII, 184 pp., table; 1 l. ill.; 22 cm. – On the flyleaf there is a note: “Volodya’s dad. May 5, 1876"
Volodya - Vladimir Dmitrievich Mendeleev (1865-1898) - the eldest son of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, born in marriage with the scientist’s first wife, Feozva Nikitichnaya (ur. Leshcheva). Vladimir Mendeleev connected his life with the sea: he graduated from the Naval School (in 1884) and served as an officer in the navy; in 1890 he was assigned to the frigate "Memory of Azov", which was preparing for an important campaign - the heir Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich (future Emperor Nicholas II) went on a sea voyage visiting Greece, Egypt, India, Ceylon, Saigon, Hong Kong and further to the final point is Japan. The highest visit, as you know, ended in a scandal: one of the police cordon, motivated by psychopathy and samurai complexes, attacked the Russian prince and wounded him twice with a saber. The frightened Japanese authorities launched a most scrupulous investigation and invited Russian guests to take part in it. This is where the photography lessons that V.D. Mendeleev’s father gave in his youth unexpectedly came in handy, because the investigative team must have a photographer.
Lieutenant Mendeleev served on the “Memory of Azov” until 1894, then he was written off ashore, and in 1898 he retired and took the place of inspector of maritime education at the Ministry of Finance. In 1896, V. D. Mendeleev married the daughter of the academician of painting, one of the founders of the Association of Traveling Exhibitions K. V. Lemokh, Varvara; They had a son, Dmitry, who, unfortunately, did not live very long. V.D. Mendeleev’s “land” life was also short-lived - in December 1898 he fell ill with influenza and died a week later. D.I. Mendeleev was grieving the loss of his beloved son; in 1899, he prepared for publication Vladimir’s unfinished work “Project for raising the level of the Azov Sea by damming the Kerch Strait.”
In the photograph there is a boy in a sailor suit - Volodya Mendeleev. The place is the Boblovo estate, in the Klin district of the Moscow province. The author of the photo is D.I. Mendeleev. Time - summer 1876. A boy walks in the garden and reads books, takes up photography with his father; he dreams of the sea and is preparing to enter the Naval School. His father encourages him to study seriously; he knows that from the Naval School they go not only into the navy, but also into science, and you need to get used to serious scientific literature from a young age.
We do not know how the book given to V.D. Mendeleev by his father ended up in the library of the Bestuzhev Courses. Time of admission - 1909; The year is indicated in the inventory record, which means that the book did not come as part of a significant donation. In 1909, neither Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev nor Vladimir Dmitrievich were alive. His widow, Varvara Kirillovna, was not a member of the Society for the delivery of funds to the residential housing complex; In addition, throughout her long life (and she survived the blockade) she kept the things of her late husband, and would hardly have decided to part with such a memorial book. It is more natural to assume that V.D. Mendeleev parted with his father’s gift himself, perhaps while still at the School, or immediately after graduation; for example, he gave it to one of his comrades who was going to study science. It is tempting to propose a candidate - Alexey Nikolaevich Krylov (1863-1945), a schoolmate of Vladimir Mendeleev, who went to the compass workshop of the Hydrographic Directorate; subsequently academician, Hero of Socialist Labor and laureate of the Stalin Prize; and, by the way, married to a graduate of the All-Russian Housing Committee (1889) E. N. Dranitsyna. However, our assumption is absolutely groundless; There is no information about the friendship between Mendeleev and Krylov at the Naval School (including in the well-known “Notes” of the latter). On the contrary, it is much more likely to assume that this book came to the Bestuzhev courses from a random person who did not know either “Volodya” written on the flyleaf or his “father.”