This book provides a summary, makes a general analysis of, and critically analyzes the generally accepted corpus of fundamental data concerning the unveiling, in 1869, of Dmitri Mendeleev’s discovery of the Periodic Law by way of publishing the initial version of the Periodic table of chemical elements. The overview puts forward a substantiated conclusion refuting as erroneous the accepted representation that the discovery of the Periodic Law was published by Mendeleev on February 17 (March 1), 1869. In this overview, as all versions of the Attempt at a System of the Elements Based on Their Atomic Weight and Chemical Affinity known to date are being critically examined, as a study of historical and bibliographical data is being conducted, as heretofore unknown archival documents and unaccounted for historical records are being introduced, and as Dmitri Mendeleev’s original manuscript documenting his great discovery is being critically evaluated, new facts regarding the discovery’s first publications are being established. The newly discovered evidence sheds a new light on the chronological sequence of the discovery’s publications. The overview clearly identifies the very first publication (editio princeps) of the discovery, by Dmitri Mendeleev, of the Periodic Law, and establishes the date of its initial release, herein being set to March 14/15 (26/27), 1869.
