I distinctly recall reading that this was the case with Dmitri Mendeleyev in his later years, but I can’t recall with respect to what, and a quick googling isn’t resolving the question.
Possibly his skepticism about Arrhenius’s theory of acids and bases? At one point he did object to that, although I don’t know the details, other than more or less what it is summarized by Wikipedia.
I don’t think that was what I had read about, I think it was something along the lines of denying the existence of radioactivity, but I might be mixed up on that count.
I do recall that the source in which I read about it said that when element 101 was named, the scientist who introduced its name joked “fittingly, considering its namesake, it is an unstable element.” (paraphrased from memory.) It gave the impression that he became well known for having crackpot tendencies in his later years.
I distinctly recall reading that this was the case with Dmitri Mendeleyev in his later years, but I can’t recall with respect to what, and a quick googling isn’t resolving the question.
Possibly his skepticism about Arrhenius’s theory of acids and bases? At one point he did object to that, although I don’t know the details, other than more or less what it is summarized by Wikipedia.
I don’t think that was what I had read about, I think it was something along the lines of denying the existence of radioactivity, but I might be mixed up on that count.
I do recall that the source in which I read about it said that when element 101 was named, the scientist who introduced its name joked “fittingly, considering its namesake, it is an unstable element.” (paraphrased from memory.) It gave the impression that he became well known for having crackpot tendencies in his later years.