From the Molecular World. A Nineteenth-Century Science Fantasy. “SpringerBriefs in History of Chemistry” Series. By Alan J. Rocke.

2013 ◽  
Vol 52 (13) ◽  
pp. 3565-3567
Author(s):  
Seymour Mauskopf
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
History Of Chemistry ◽  
History Of ◽  
Science Fantasy ◽  
Century Science

When a Daring Chemistry Meets a Boring Chemistry: The Reception of Mendeleev’s Periodic System in Sweden

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Lundgren
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Periodic System ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
The Other ◽  
Experimental Science ◽  
History Of Chemistry ◽  
System P ◽  
History Of ◽  
Per Se

The reception of Mendeleev’s periodic system in Sweden was not a dramatic episode. The system was accepted almost without discussion, but at the same time with no exclamation marks or any other outbursts of enthusiasm. There are but a few weak short-lived critical remarks. That was all. I will argue that the acceptance of the system had no overwhelming effect on chemical practice in Sweden. At most, it strengthened its characteristics. It is actually possible to argue that chemistry in Sweden was more essential for the periodic system than the other way around. My results might therefore suggest that we perhaps have to reevaluate the role of Mendeleev’s system in the history of chemistry. Chemistry in Sweden at the end of the nineteenth century can be characterized as a classifying science, with chemists very skilled in analysis, and as mainly an atheoretical science, which treated theories at most only as hypothesis—the slogan of many chemists being “facts persist, theories vanish.” Thanks to these characteristics, by the end of the nineteenth century, chemistry in Sweden had developed into, it must be said, a rather boring chemistry. This is obviously not to say that it is boring to study such a chemistry. Rather, it gives us an example of how everyday science, a part of science too often neglected but a part that constitutes the bulk of all science done, is carried out. One purpose of this study is to see how a theory, considered to be important in the history of chemistry, influenced everyday science. One might ask what happened when a daring chemistry met a boring chemistry. What happened when a theory, which had been created by a chemist who has been described as “not a laboratory chemist,” met an atheoretical experimental science of hard laboratory work and, as was said, the establishment of facts? Furthermore, could we learn something about the role of the periodic system per se from the study of such a meeting? Mendeleev’s system has often been considered important for teaching, and his attempts to write a textbook are often taken as the initial step in the chain of thoughts that led to the periodic system.

(William T. Stearn Prize 2009) “The mighty cassowary”: the discovery and demise of the King Island emu

2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Pfennigwerth
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Life History ◽  
Human Error ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
History Of ◽  
Visual Record ◽  
Century Science ◽  
Printing Techniques

Nicolas Baudin's 1800–1804 voyage was the only scientific expedition to collect specimens of the dwarf emu (Dromaius ater) endemic to King Island, Bass Strait, Australia. The expedition's naturalist, François Péron, documented the only detailed, contemporaneous description of the life history of the bird, and the artist Charles-Alexandre Lesueur made the only visual record of a living specimen. Hunted to extinction by 1805, the King Island emu remains relatively unfamiliar. It is ironic that a bird collected as part of one of the most ambitious ordering enterprises in early nineteenth-century science – a quest for intellectual empire – has been more or less forgotten. This paper discusses how human error, assumption, imagination and circumstance hampered recognition and understanding of the King Island emu. Poor record-keeping led to the confusion of this species with other taxa, including the Australian emu and a dwarf species restricted to Kangaroo Island, contributing to the epistemological loss of the species. The expedition's agenda was equally influential in the perception and documentation of the species, with consequences for its conservation in the wild. The paper also argues that as a symbolic rather than a scientific record, Lesueur's illustration fostered inaccuracies in later descriptions of the King Island emu, especially when the image was taken out of context, subjected to the vagaries of nineteenth-century printing techniques and reproduced in more recent ornithological literature. Rather than increasing knowledge about this species, the Baudin expedition and its literature contributed, albeit unwittingly, to the King Island emu's textual and literal extinction.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
pp. 229-244
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Imperial Russia ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
European Science ◽  
History Of ◽  
Century Science

This concluding chapter assesses the importance of Dmitrii Mendeleev as an individual. One could in principle similarly follow the paths of many figures in Imperial Russia or in nineteenth-century science—or, in fact, in almost any place or time. Yet Mendeleev offers a particularly valuable perspective on the history of both Russia and chemistry. The educated elite in Imperial Petersburg was quite small, and individuals who were prominent in several groups—such as Sergei Witte or Feodor Dostoevsky—were able to imprint their concepts deeply on Russia's state or its culture. Mendeleev, on the other hand, unified artists, writers, scientists, and bureaucrats while preserving their traces in his sizable personal archive; his life illustrates what it was like to live and work in St. Petersburg. Moreover, his chemical ideas demonstrate how European science functioned, as well as how barriers of language and culture placed constraints on scientific attempts at attaining universality.

scholarly journals O químico e físico inglês Willian Crookes (1832-1919) e os raios catódicos: Uma adaptação tátil do tubo para o ensino de modelos atômicos para aprendizes cegos

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Jomara Mendes Fernandes ◽  
Sandra Franco-Patrocínio ◽  
Ivoni Freitas-Reis
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Rarefied Gas ◽  
Vacuum Pump ◽  
Rarefied Gases ◽  
Electrical Discharges ◽  
History Of Chemistry ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

ResumoAs pesquisas sobre descargas elétricas através dos gases rarefeitos era tema de muitos estudos no século XIX. Em 1879, Willian Crookes (1832-1919) produziu, através de uma bomba de vácuo, um tubo de gás rarefeito que proporcionou meios de afirmar ser o raio catódico, o qual mais tarde Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940) denominaria elétron de natureza particulada. Defendemos a importância das imagens e representações dentro do estudo da química e, pensando nisso, o presente trabalho retrata a experiência de uma adaptação tátil do tubo de Crookes que foi utilizada em aulas da história dos modelos atômicos com um aprendiz cego. Palavras-chave: Educação Inclusiva; Deficiência Visual; História da Química.AbstractResearch on electrical discharges through rarefied gases was the subject of many studies in the nineteenth century. In 1879, William Crookes (1832-1919) produced, through a vacuum pump, a rarefied gas tube that provided a means of claiming to be the cathode ray, which later Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940) would call the electron of nature particulate. We argue for the importance of images and representations within the study of chemistry and, in light of this, the present paper portrays the experience of a tactile adaptation of Crookes tube that was used in classes of the history of the atomics models with a blind apprentice.Keywords: Including Education; Visual Deficiency; History of Chemistry.

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