The Periodic Law of Chemical Elements: 150 Years of Development

Turning to the contribution of D.I. Mendeleev to Russian and world science, the author of this paper speaks about the history of the discovery of the famous Periodic Law of Chemical Elements and its significance for the development of chemistry and physics. The main idea of this paper is that, in his generalizations, Mendeleev rose to the level of formulating a law that has predictive power and allows one to make predictions. The 150 years that have passed since then have fully confirmed this idea. The table by Mendeleev contained 63 elements, and now there are 118 in it.