Grigory Nikolayevich Vyrubov, or Grégoire Wyrouboff (Russian: Григорий Николаевич Вырубов; 31 October 1843, in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

– 30 November 1913, in Paris) was a Russian Empire Positivist philosopher and historian of science.

History

Born in

, Vyrubov was brought up in Italy and France before studying medicine and natural philosophy at the

University of Moscow Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

. Heavily influenced by Edmond Nikolayevich Pommier, Vyrubov founded the Positivist journal ''Philosophie positive'' with

Emile Littré Emile or Émile may refer to: * Émile (novel) (1827), autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life * Emile, Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai * '' Emile: or, On Education'' (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a treatise o ...

in 1867: he edited the journal until 1881. He befriended Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen, and edited anonymously the first edition of Herzen's works (10 vols, 1875–79). In 1896 Vyrubov criticized

Mendeleev Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev ( ; ) was a Russian chemist known for formulating the periodic law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements. He used the periodic law not only to correct the then-accepted properties of some known ele ...

's notion and statement of a

periodic law In chemistry, periodic trends are specific patterns present in the periodic table that illustrate different aspects of certain elements when grouped by period and/or group. They were discovered by the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1863. ...

, i.e., "all the properties of bodies are periodic functions of their

atomic weights Relative atomic mass (symbol: ''A''; sometimes abbreviated RAM or r.a.m.), also known by the deprecated synonym atomic weight, is a dimensionless physical quantity defined as the ratio of the average mass of atoms of a chemical element in a give ...

," citing the inversion of

tellurium Tellurium is a chemical element; it has symbol Te and atomic number 52. It is a brittle, mildly toxic, rare, silver-white metalloid. Tellurium is chemically related to selenium and sulfur, all three of which are chalcogens. It is occasionally fou ...

and

iodine Iodine is a chemical element; it has symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...

, which breaks the order of monotonically increasing atomic weights. He went so far as to say "I think that it is time to show clearly that there is nothing

ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...

which merits the name of law or system." Rethinking periodicity in terms of

atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of its atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei composed of protons and neutrons, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of pro ...

eliminates the problem, and the criticism was beside the point, since the notion of a periodic law had already saturated the field of chemistry.Michael D. Gordin (2004) ''A Well-Ordered Thing: Dimitrii Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table''. Basic Books, New York. citing G. Wyrouboff, "On the Periodic Classification of the Elements" ''Chemical News'' 74 (1896) Although he had never trained as a historian of science, in 1903 he was elected as

Pierre Laffitte Pierre Laffitte (21 February 1823 – 4 January 1903) was a French positivist philosopher. Laffitte was born at Béguey, Gironde. Residing at Paris as a teacher of mathematics, he became a disciple of Auguste Comte, who appointed him his litera ...

's successor to the chair of history of science at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

, and held the chair until his death. Vyrubov was an active

freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

. He was initiated into freemasonry on 7 January 1874 in Paris. He was initially a member of the

Scottish Rite The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry is a List of Masonic rites, rite within the broader context of Freemasonry. It is the most widely practiced List of Masonic rites, Rite in the world. In some parts of the world, and in the ...

, but came into conflict with the Grand Lodge of France and switched to the

Grand Orient of France The Grand Orient de France (, abbr. GODF) is the oldest and largest of several Freemasonic organizations based in France and is the oldest in Continental Europe (as it was formed out of an older Grand Lodge of France in 1773, and briefly absorbe ...

(

French Rite The French Rite (French: ''Rite français'') is one of the oldest List of Masonic rites, masonic rites, and the most widely practiced in France and Belgium. It is the direct heir and one of the best preserved ritual of speculative masonry as pract ...

). He was the "Worshipful Master" of a lodge of Russian emigrants known as the "Rose of the Perfect Silence."

History

References

Further reading