The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2023 Partington Prize is Dr Armel Cornu of the Science History Institute for her entry “Senses and utility in the New Chemistry.”

Armel Cornu is a postdoctoral researcher at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia. She majored in chemistry and history before graduating with a masters degree in the history of science at Université Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris. She obtained her doctorate at the University of Uppsala in 2022 with a dissertation centring on the market, regulation, and science of mineral waters in eighteenth-century France. Her research is characterised by a social and economic approach to the development of chemistry throughout the Enlightenment. She currently works on the uses of sensorial impressions in the practice and perception of eighteenth-century chemistry.

The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry established the Partington Prize in memory of Professor James Riddick Partington, the Society’s first Chairman. It is awarded every three years for an original and unpublished essay on any aspect of the history of alchemy or chemistry. The prize-winning article will appear in the Society’s journal, Ambix, in due course.

REMINDER – SHAC AWARD SCHEME 2023

Applications are now open for the SHAC Award Scheme 2023, with a closing date of 31 May 2023.

SHAC offers two types of award up to a maximum value of £1000: support for research into the history of chemistry or history of alchemy by both new and independent scholars and support for Subject Development of either history of chemistry or history of alchemy. It is expected that applicants will be advised of the outcome of their application by 31 July 2023. The Awards are most suitable for activities planned to be undertaken during the academic year October 2023–September 2024. To apply please request a form from grants@ambix.org . Applicants must be members of the Society in good standing at the time of making an application, and, if successful, throughout the period of an award.

For further details see: https://www.ambix.org/grants/

With best wishes,

Chris Campbell

Honorary Secretary

SHAC

the next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Professor Eric Scerri (UCLA) who will present  

A Brief Philosophical History of the Periodic Table 

This will be live on Thursday, 19 January 2023, beginning at 5.00pm GMT (6.00pm CET, 12noon ET, 9.00am PT). The format will be a talk of 20-30 minutes, followed by a moderated discussion of half an hour.  

As with recent seminars the Zoom link can be freely accessed by anyone, member of SHAC or not, via the following Eventbrite link: 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shac-online-seminar-professor-eric-scerri-tickets-499088044777

Alternatively, the seminar can be accessed live on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Fjln_vAqvSQ


Most previous on-line seminars can be found on the SHAC YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/SocietyforHistoryofAlchemyandChemistry

 

A Brief Philosophical History of the Periodic Table 

Eric Scerri

My talk will begin with a brief history of the origins of the periodic table, starting with the contributions of Dalton, Döbereiner and others. I will proceed to the independent discovery of the periodic table by as many as six individuals, culminating with Mendeleev’s table just over 150 years ago. The emphasis will be on philosophical aspects of these developments such as the debate concerning the relative merits of predictions and accommodations.  

I will discuss the challenges that the periodic table faced, such as the existence of pair reversals and the discovery of the noble gases. Next came several discoveries in physics, including X-rays, radioactivity and the electron, all of which had a profound effect on the understanding of the periodic table. Research in atomic structure beginning at the turn of the 20th century prompted some physicists such as J.J. Thomson and Niels Bohr to begin to seek a fundamental explanation for the periodic table in terms of electronic structure.  

The later developed quantum mechanics of Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Pauli and others led to a more rigorous explanation, although some open questions remain up to present times. For example, there is yet no fundamental explanation for the empirical rule that the occupation of atomic orbitals proceeds via the simple n + 1 rule.  

In addition, relativistic effects are being increasingly considered in attempts to understand the heavier elements in particular. Finally, several other remaining open questions will be mentioned, such as the membership of group 3 of the periodic table, alternative representations such as the 32-column format, the left-step periodic table and whether there may exist an ‘optimal form’ of the periodic table.