After graduation, Mendeleev contracted tuberculosis, prompting his move to Crimea. The illness threatened his health just as he was beginning his professional life, but the southern climate helped him recover.
Mendeleev graduated from the Main Pedagogical Institute in Saint Petersburg in 1855. Because of his poor health, he was sent to teach in Crimea, where he became a science teacher at the gymnasium in Simferopol. The region’s milder climate was considered beneficial for people suffering from pulmonary disease.
The move did not end his scientific career. While in Crimea, Mendeleev continued teaching and writing, and in 1857 he returned to Saint Petersburg with his health described as restored. The episode is sometimes compressed into a simple travel fact, but it also explains why his early teaching career began far from the imperial capital. It should not be confused with his mother’s later death from tuberculosis in 1850.