1. Lexics to the text:
• to be born - родиться
• to receive a secondary education - получить среднее образование
• to graduate from the Institute - окончить институт
• to receive master ' s degree - получить степень кандидата наук
• a two - year scientific commision - 2-годичная научная командировка
• to take part in - принимать участие в
• pedagogical activities - педагогическая деятельность
• to put down the results - записать результаты
• to describe - описывать
• to be divided - разделять(ся)
• to possess similar properties - обладать одинаковыми свойствами
• the Periodic Table of Elements - Периодическая таблица элементов
• a new era - новая эра
• to pay attention to - обратить внимание
• to put forward the idea of - выдвинуть идею
• the Bureau of Weights and Measures - Палата мер и весов
• pneumonia - воспаление легких
• a great deal of attention - большое внимание
2. Look through the text:
Dmitry Ivanovitch Mendeleyev, the great Russian scientist, the father of the Periodic Table of Elements, was born in Tobolsk in 1834 in the family of the director of the town Gymnasium. He received a secondary education at the Tobolsk Gymnasium. At the age of 16 he finished school and went to Petersburg where he entered the Pedagogical Institute and graduated from it with a gold medal in 1855.
After graduation Mendeleyev worked as a teacher for two years, first in the Simferopol and then Odessa Gymnasiums. In 1859 Mendeleyev received his master's degree and went abroad on a two-year scientific commission. In 1860 he took part in the World Chemical Congress in Karlsruhe.
When Mendeleyev returned to Russia he was elected professor of the Petersburg Technological Institute and two years later professor of the Petersburg University where he carried his scientific and pedagogical activities for twenty - three years. Mendeleyev taught chemistry. His lectures were always interesting and the students of that time listened to them with great interest and attention. Besides lectures Mendeleyev made a lot of experiments in his laboratory and in his classes. He put down the results of his experiments and later grouped all those data. Mendeleyev described more than 60 elements and found that all the elements could be divided into nine groups. Each of these groups may be divided into five rows. The elements of one group possess more or less similar properties. In 1869 Mendeleyev published his Periodic Table of Elements which began a new era in chemical thought.
Mendeleyev also paid much attention to many subjects. He was the first to put forward the idea of studying the upper layers of the atmosphere.
In 1893 Mendeleyev was appointed Director of the Bureau of Weights and Measures. He was elected member of many academies abroad.
In February 1907 at the age of 75 Mendeleyev died of pneumonia.
Mendeleyev always combined theory and practice. He gave a great deal of attention throughout his life to the development of the industry of his country. He wrote: "Science and industry - there lie my dreams!"
3. Answer the questions to the text:
• When and where was Mendeleyev born?
• What Institute did Mendeleyev study?
• Where did Mendeleyev work after graduating from the Institute?
• When was Mendeleyev elected professor of the Petersburg Institute and University?
• How many elements did Mendeleyev describe?
• When did Mendeleyev publish his Periodic Table?
• What subject did Mendeleyev pay attention to besides chemical elements?