Karoliina Pulkkinen (University of Cambridge)
Dmitri Mendeleev's periodic system is known for its predictive accuracy, but not for its completeness. Here, I describe how Mendeleev's valuing of completeness influenced development of the periodic system. After introducing five indicators of its completeness, I zoom into one in particular: the inclusion of a schematic row of oxides. As this row guided Mendeleev's predictions, I argue that completeness was instrumental for using the periodic system for predicting. Beyond this, I argue that Mendeleev's predictions should not be mobilised as an example of predictivism or accommodationism: it is an example of how accommodation was a precondition for making predictions.
