History of Science and Engineering Annotation << Back History of Creation and Development of Teplovision Devices N.I. Savitkin, Ya.G. Avdeev, K.L. Anfilov The history of oil extraction and primary processing in Russian Empire has been analyzed, reasons preventing the development of this arising industry have been determined. The contribution of D.I. Mendeleev into the development of «oil business» in Russia has been shown. There have been analyzed the views of Russian scientists of that time on the nature of oil origination Key words: D.I. Mendeleev; oil; oil chemistry; history of Chemistry. E-mail: avdeev@kspu.kaluga.ru; avdeevavdeev@mail.ru. Pp. 44-57