The invention of Russia's most famous alcoholic drink is credited to Russia's most famous chemist. Let's find out if this is fair.

In fact, there are even two stories about Mendeleev’s connection with the invention of vodka. According to the first of them, the chemist essentially came up with a recipe by calculating the optimal ratio of alcohol in solution with water. The second version is a modified first: Mendeleev not only decided that vodka must certainly be 40 degrees, but also proposed to legislate this proportion. Allegedly, the chemist was part of the commission to introduce a “wine monopoly” - the exclusive right of the state or individuals to produce and trade alcoholic beverages. The legend was popularized by William Pokhlebkin, author of the book "The History of Vodka", historian and expert on Russian cooking. However, the idea was actively taken up by marketers - for example, on the label of Russian Standard vodka it was stated that it was created “according to the classic recipe of D. I. Mendeleev.”

Pokhlebkin attributes the invention of vodka to Mendeleev in connection with the chemist’s dissertation entitled “On the combination of alcohol with water”:

By mid-1864, Mendeleev reached 36° in his calculations of the specific gravity of alcohol solutions in water. He is separated from vodka (optimal 40°) by only 4°, he is on the verge of a new discovery, he penetrates the secrets of vodka, establishing how the qualities of aqueous-alcohol solutions change greatly depending on the achievement of a certain degree, and by the end of November 1864 these conclusions result in a dissertation.

However, the text of the dissertation itself does not say anything like that. IN chapter four In his work, Mendeleev determined the compression that occurs during the mutual dissolution of anhydrous alcohol and water, and the greatest compression corresponded to a concentration of 46°. The author of the dissertation does not write about any connection with vodka and the fact that it must certainly be 40 degrees. At the same time, Mendeleev gives “weight” percentages, that is, by the weight of alcohol in a volume of water, and not by its volume, while the strength of a drink in the everyday understanding is precisely the ratio of volumes.

Mendeleev, of course, was also not involved in “promoting” 40-proof vodka at the legislative level. The strength “not lower than 40°” was established by regulations only four years later; the scientist himself refers to this decision in article "Distillation" for the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary. Although Mendeleev participated in the discussion of the “wine monopoly” in 1894, his role in the discussion was very limited - the scientist was invited as an expert when it came to excise tax calculations.