Early Responses to the Periodic System

The reception of the periodic system of elements has received little attention among scientists and historians alike. While many historians have studied Mendeleev's discovery of the periodic system, few have analyzed the ways in which the scientific community perceived and employed it. American historian of science Stephen G. Brush concluded that the periodic law had been generally accepted in the United States and Britain, and has suggested the need to extend this study to other countries. In Early Responses to the Periodic System, renowned historians of science Masanori Kaji, Helge Kragh, and G?bor Pall? present the first major comparative analysis on the reception, response, and appropriation of the periodic system of elements among different nation-states. This book examines the history of its pedagogy and popularization in scientific communities, educational sectors, and popular culture from the 1970s to the 1920s. Fifteen notable historians of science explore the impact of Mendeleev's discovery in eleven countries (and one region) central to chemical research, including Russia, Germany, the Czech lands, and Japan, one of the few nation-states outside the Western world to participate in the nineteenth-century scientific research. The collection, organized by nation-state, explores how local actors regarded the new discovery as law, classification, or theoretical interpretation. In addition to discussing the appropriation of the periodic system, the book examines meta-physical reflections of nature based on the periodic system outside the field of chemistry, and considers how far humans can push the categories of "response" and "reception." Early Responses to the Periodic System provides a compelling read for anyone with an interest in the history of chemistry and the Periodic Table of Elements.

Autorentext

Masanori Kaji is a Professor of the History of Science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Helge Kragh is a Professor of the History of Science at Aarhus University. G?bor Pall? is a Senior Consultant at the Visual Learning Lab at Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

Inhalt

Foreword List of Illustrations 1. Introduction Part I: Discovery and Early Work on the Periodic System 2. The Early Response of Mendeleev's Periodic System in Russia Masanori Kaji, Nathan Brooks 3. The Periodic System and its Influence on Research and Education in Germany between 1870 and 1910 Gisela Boeck Part II: Early Response at the Center of Chemical Research 4. British Reception of Periodicity Gordon Woods 5. Mendeleev's Periodic Classification and Law in French Chemistry Textbooks Bernadette Bensaude Vincent, Antonio Garc?a Belmar Part III: Response in the Central European Periphery 6. Nationalism and the Process of Reception of Reception and Appropriation of the Periodic System in Europe and the Czech Lands So?a %Strb??ov? Part IV: Response in the Northern European Periphery (Scandinavian Countries) 7. When a daring chemistry meets a boring chemistry: The Reception of Mendeleev's Periodic System in Sweden Anders Lundgren 8. Reception and Early Use of the Periodic System: The Case of Denmark Helge Kragh 9. Ignored, Disregarded, Discarded? On the Introduction of the Periodic System in Norwegian Periodicals and Textbooks, c. 1870-1930s Annette Lykknes Part V: Response in the Southern European Periphery 10. Chemical Classifications, Textbooks, and the Periodic System in Nineteenth-Century Spain Jos? Ram?n Bertomeu-S?nchez, Rosa Mu?oz-Bello 11. Echoes from the Reception of Periodic Classification in Portugal Isabel Malaquias 12. Popular Science, Textbooks, and Scientists: The Periodic Law in Italy Marco Ciardi, Marco Taddia Part VI: Response Beyond Europe 13. Chemical Classification and the Response to the Periodic Law of Elements in Japan in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries Masanori Kaji