The Periodic Table and a Missed Nobel Prize

The history of science offers many examples of how the powers that we have protected and rewarded scientists like alchemists who claimed the ability to make gold. With the advent of the Science Academies in the 17th and 18th centuries, scientists were supported and encouraged with stipends and rewards. However, when Alfred Nobel in his will made the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences the custodian of the Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry, the evaluation of the candidates for the prizes sometimes led to strong differences of opinion within the Academy. This book deals with such a case Dmitri Mendeleev and his Periodic Law. Here, this book presents the deliberations of the Academy (and its sometimes rather confused Chemistry Nobel Committee) against the background of the scientific development preceding the discovery.