Dmetri, being the youngest, appears to have been his mother's favorite child and was provided as many opportunities as she could afford. From his early years, she began to save money for Dmetri to attend the university. However, it was not only his mother who offered him special favors. He spent many hours in the glass factory his mother operated, learning from the chemist about the concepts behind glass making and from the glass blower about the art of making glass. Another influence in Dmeitri's life was his sister Olga's husband, Bessargin. After being banished to Siberia for his political beliefs as a Russian Decembrist (Dekabrists, a group of literary men who headed a revolution in 1825(4),), Bessargin occupied himself teaching Dmetri the science of the day. Mendeleev's early years were guided by these people, and he was thus raised with three key thoughts:
"Everything in the world is science," from Bessargin
"Everything in the world is art," from Timofei the glass blower.
"Everything in the world is love," from Maria his mother. (16)
As he grew older, it became apparent that he had exceptional comprehension of complex topics. At the age of 14, he was attending the Gymnasium in Tobolsk and his mother was continuing to plan for his future. In that year, however, a second major family tragedy occurred; the glass factory burned to the ground. The family was devastated; there was no money to rebuild and the only money they had was the money saved for Dmetri to go to the university. Maria was not about to give up her dreams for her son. She knew at this point that Dmetri's only hope to go on to school was to win a scholarship. So in his final years at the gymnasium, Maria pushed Dmetri to improve his grades and prepare for entrance exams.
This was no easy task, as Dmetri was not a "classical" scholar. He knew at a very young age that he wanted to study science and saw very little need for studying topics such as Latin and history. He felt that these were dead topics and a waste of his time. After much coaxing from his mother and Bessargin, Mendeleev passed his gymnasium exams and prepared to enter the university. This disdain of the "classical" education was to color his later writings on education when, in 1901, he stated:
...We could live at the present day without a Plato, but a double number of Newtons is required to discover the secrets of nature, and to bring life into harmony with the laws of nature. (4)
In 1849, with nothing left for the family at Aremziansk, Maria loaded up the family's belongings and headed for Moscow. At this point the family included Maria, Dmitri, and Elizabeth (Dmetri's older sister). In Moscow, they entered a climate of considerable political unrest, which made the university reluctant to admit anyone from outside of Moscow. Mendeleev was rejected. Maria did not give up, however, and the family headed for St. Petersburg.
Again, they encountered similar turmoil but this time they found a friend of Ivan's working at the Pedagogical Institute, his father's school. With a little persuasion, Dmitri was allowed to take the entrance exams, which he passed, not with honors but well enough to be admitted to the science teacher training program on a full scholarship. He entered the university in the fall of 1850.
Maria died shortly after Dmetri's acceptance at St. Petersburg, followed a few short months later by Elizabeth; both died from tuberculosis. Mendeleev was left alone to face his work at the university, but was to later eulogize his mother in his book on Solutions:
This investigation is dedicated to the memory of a mother by her youngest offspring. Conducting a factory she could educate him only by her own work. She instructed by example, corrected with love, and in order to devote him to science she left Siberia with him, spending thus her last resources and strength.
When dying she said, 'Refrain from illusions, insist on work and not on words. Patiently search divine and scientific truth.' She understood how often dialectical methods deceive, how much there is still to be learned, and how, with the aid of science without violence, with love but firmness, all superstition, untruth and error are removed, bringing in their stead the safety of undiscovered truth, freedom for further development, general welfare, and inward happiness. Deitri Mendeleev regards as sacred a mother's dying words. (19)