Not quite true: there were many kinds of periodic table proposed at the time. Mendeleev used his version of the table to predict elements that cannot possibly exist, and the table was wrongly based on atomic mass, because he did not understand the physics* underlying the periodic table. At the time there was no obvious way to choose between the competing periodic tables.

Not Mendeleev’s fault, as it needed quantum mechanics for that, and when the mystery of the periodic table was finally sorted out, Mendeleev’s, minus his impossible elements, was the last one standing. I don’t think Mendeleev deserves very much credit for the periodic table any more than Democritus does for atoms, as I think he got lucky in his guesses rather than had any unique insight into the physics underlying chemistry.

*Or indeed the basic physics of objects in space. He was sure that argon must be a molecule of three nitrogen atoms because there was no place in his table for an element with the mass of argon. But the measurements of the specific heat showed that argon had to be spherically symmetric, it could not possibly be three atoms in a triangle. As to why argon had such difficulty forming compounds, and why it needed its own column in the table which would eventually be populated by helium and the other noble gases, that is explained by physics which was not developed at that time.

Russian was fifth in the world in industrial production in 1913, and had the fastest growing economy in Europe. Because the Russian population was so large, per capita figures would be low for some time, and there was no question of catching up to Britain’s standard of living any time soon. Still, Russia would have been a much more powerful force in the world economy if war and revolution hadn’t intervened.

Link for Russia’s industrial production in 1913 and economic growth: Modern History Sourcebook: Tables Illustrating the Spread of Industrialization.

Recall that pre-Revolutionary Russia was no slouch in the sciences: the periodic table came from a Russian chemist. Ditto engineering: Stephen Timoshenko and
Igor Sikorsky, respectively a leader in engineering mechanics and the helicopter pioneer.

Which reminds me of DeToqueville’s assertion that revolution occurs in a poorly run country that starts to improve.

Not really. It’s far larger than the “majority amount” would explain. It’s got far more to do with the fucked up attitude towards males in our society in general, and the pushing of women to the fore in all things regardless of merit.

Some of it was a beneficial opening of career paths for women. The argument that admissions committees made was that women would not practice full time and there was a shortage of doctors. Recent data from companies that recruit and place doctors show that women do NOT practice full time on average and spend an average of 26 weeks per year working. On the other hand, female doctors do fill some important niches. For example, virtually all new OBGYN docs are women. A couple of years ago UCLA had three male OB graduates who could not find a job.

A new woman OB came to my community when I was still in practice (30 years ago). Her husband was in advertising. He began a brilliant ad campaign to get her started. She was pregnant and small stature. That ad included a photo of her and said “Why not choose the pregnant obstetrician?” In four years she had three associates and was the busiest OB in Irvine CA.

On the other hand, I am not impressed with women surgeons. One would think they would have fine motor skills but the ones I saw tended to be rough with tissue. Maybe it’s better now.

It was as much about Lindsay as about her. The point is that politicians and TV personalities are a form of incest.