Dimitry Mendeleyev Spanish Stamp Collection

Collection

Identifier: 2023-522

Staff Only

Scope and Content

The Dimitry Mendeleyev Spanish Stamp Collection includes a sheet of Spanish stamps and assorted materials commemorating the life and work of Russian chemist and inventor Dimitry Mendeleyev. Included in the collection is a sheet of twenty Spanish stamps from 2007 commemorating Mendeleyev with text in Spanish that reads, “Espana, Ciencia Quimica Tabla Periodica de Elementos de Mendeleiev, Correos, Diseno J. Garcia Martinez.” Also included are three postal covers featuring an illustration of select elements from the periodic table with text in Spanish that reads, “Quimca. Tabla periodica de los elementos de Mendeleiev, Primer Dia de Circulacion,” with a commemorative Mendeleyev stamp adhered to each postal cover. Attached to the collection is a short paper with text in English titled, “Spain celebrates its Year of Science honouring Mendeleev,” produced by the University of Alicante with a folder from the university.

Dates

Creation: 2007

Creator

Socieded Estatal Correos y Telégrafos (Spain) (Organization)
Universidad de Alicante (Organization)

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes and the collection is open to the public.

Copyright Information

The Science History Institute holds copyright to the Dimitry Mendeleyev Spanish Stamp Collection. The researcher assumes full responsibility for all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Background Note

Born on February 8, 1834 in the village of Verkhnie Aremzyani, near Tobolsk in Siberia, Dimitry Mendeleyev was a Russian chemist and inventor. Raised in an Orthodox Christian household, Mendeleyev was the youngest of several siblings. Following the death of his father, Mendeleyev’s mother took him to Moscow in 1849 to enroll him at the Moscow University. After being rejected by Moscow University, Mendeleyev moved to Saint Petersburg in 1850, where he was accepted at his father’s alma mater, the Main Pedagogical Institute.

After graduation in 1855, Mendeleyev contracted tuberculosis and moved to the Crimean Peninsula on the northern coast of the Black Sea. After recuperating from his illness in 1857, he returned to Saint Petersburg. From 1859 to 1861, he worked on the capillarity of liquids and the workings of the spectroscope, research that resulted in his publishing a textbook titled Organic Chemistry that won him the Demidov Prize of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Mendeleyev then became a professor at the Saint Petersburg Technological Institute in 1864 and Saint Petersburg University in 1865. He additionally received his Doctor of Science in 1865 and was awarded tenure at St. Petersburg University in 1867, where he taught inorganic chemistry. By 1871, Mendeleyev had transformed Saint Petersburg into an internationally recognized center of chemistry research thanks to his formulation of the Periodic Law which helped him create a version of the periodic table of elements and earned him his reputation as the Father of the Periodic Table.

Dimitry Mendeleyev passed away on February 2, 1907.

Sources

Dimitry Mendeleyev Spanish Stamp Collection, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Extent

0.1 Linear Feet (1 folder.)

Language of Materials

English

Spanish; Castilian

Additional Description

Abstract

A collection of Spanish stamps and assorted materials commemorating the life and work of Russian chemist and inventor Dimitry Mendeleyev.

Acquisition Information

The Dimitry Mendeleyev Spanish Stamp Collection was donated to the Science History Institute by Javier Garcia-Martinez in 2023.

Related Materials

The Dimitry Mendeleyev Bulgarian Postage Stamps, Postcard, and Postal Cover Collection is preserved at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.