PHILADELPHIA, PA—4 October 2007—The Chemical Heritage Foundation is pleased to honor Michael Gordin's A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitrii Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table with the second annual Roy G. Neville Prize in Bibliography or Biography. The work is a cultural history of Mendeleev in the context of Imperial St. Petersburg. The prize will be awarded on Wednesday, 10 October 2007, as part of CHF's Fall Governance Meetings.
Gordin draws a portrait of Mendeleev in three dimensions, detailing his complex relationship with the Russian Empire, his successes and humiliations, and the ideals that shaped his work in politics, culture, and science. Gordin's background in the history of modern physical sciences, the history of Imperial Russia, and the intersection of the two areas uniquely prepared him to take on this story.
About Michael Gordin
An associate professor of history in the Department of History of Science at Princeton University, Gordin earned his A.B. and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has published articles on a variety of topics, such as the introduction of science into Russia in the early 18th century, the history of biological warfare in the late Soviet period, the relations between Russian literature and science, and a series of studies on the life and chemistry of Mendeleev, formulator of the periodic system of chemical elements. He is also the author of Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War, a history of the atomic bombings of Japan, and a coeditor of the four-volume Routledge History of the Modern Physical Sciences.
About The Roy G. Neville Prize
The Roy G. Neville Prize in Bibliography or Biography, established in 2006, is presented annually by CHF to recognize an outstanding monograph in the areas of the chemical and molecular sciences. The objective of this prize is to encourage emulations, inspire achievement, and promote public understanding of modern sciences, industries, and economies.
About Roy G. Neville
Acquiring and cataloging the books in the Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library at CHF has been the life's work for Roy Neville. A consulting chemist by profession, in 1973 he founded the corporation Engineering and Technical Consultants in Redwood City, California, of which he was president. He is also a passionate bibliophile by avocation. Neville began collecting books almost 60 years ago and amassed one of the largest private collections of rare books in the fields of science and technology, and chemistry in particular.
About the Chemical Heritage Foundation
The Chemical Heritage Foundation serves the community of the chemical and molecular sciences, and the wider public, by treasuring the past, educating the present, and inspiring the future. CHF carries out a program of outreach and interpretation in order to advance an understanding of the role of the chemical and molecular sciences, technologies, and industries in shaping society; maintains a world-class collection of materials that document the history and heritage of the chemical and molecular sciences, technologies, and industries; and encourages research in its collections.