Armel Cornu
Putting the Senses to Chemical Use
Despite the modernisation brought about by the "New Chemistry", the senses have continued to play an important role in chemical practice.
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Essays
K. Brad Wray
- Aug 28
- 5 min
Kuhn, the Discovery of Chemical Elements, and the Social Nature of Scientific Inquiry
Thomas Kuhn discusses the Chemical Revolution in some detail in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, that is, the great changes in...
85 views0 comments
Vanessa Seifert
- Mar 10
- 4 min
Let’s promote a feminist philosophy of chemistry!
In this post, Vanessa Seifert reflects on some interesting questions to pursue in the context of a feminist philosophy of chemistry
94 views0 comments
Sofiya Kamalova
- Sep 26, 2022
- 7 min
The Ardystil Syndrome Case: when chemicals cross through textile factory, hospital and laboratory
In the Ardystil occupational intoxication case, interactions with chemical changed according to the different contexts.
135 views0 comments
Francesca Bellazzi
- Sep 7, 2022
- 5 min
Genes: from instruments of thought to the base of life
Does the way we think about scientific entities matter to scientific practice?
293 views0 comments
Armel Cornu
- Aug 23, 2022
- 7 min
How do we know when water is safe to drink? The early modern origins of water analysis
Before plumbing infrastructure reached most homes, chemistry was crucial in developing a method to evaluate the safety of drinking water.
65 views0 comments
James Ladyman & Vanessa Seifert
- May 24, 2022
- 5 min
The contributions of Geoffrey Blumenthal: From Copernicus’s astronomy to Lavoisier’s chemistry
The contributions of Geoffrey Blumenthal to the history and philosophy of science
236 views0 comments
Francesca Bellazzi
- May 5, 2022
- 6 min
The superpowers of proteins
Nowadays we all care about our proteins. Supermarket products proudly show the amount of proteins they contain and we are all somehow...
411 views0 comments
Marina Paola Banchetti-Robino
- Apr 15, 2022
- 5 min
Beyond Cartesian Mechanicism: Robert Boyle’s Chemical Philosophy
Central themes of Marina Paola Banchetti-Robino's book "The Chemical Philosophy of Robert Boyle: Mechanicism, Chymical Atoms, and Emergence"
117 views0 comments
Alison McManus
- Feb 14, 2022
- 8 min
Was the Invention of Agent Orange an Invention at All?
Agent Orange was born from the knowledge that certain known substances kill plants. But could this knowledge claim constitute an invention?
220 views0 comments
Jonathon Hricko
- Jan 20, 2022
- 4 min
The True Story of How a False Theory Led to the Discovery of Boron
Can false theories successfully predict previously unknown phenomena? This post discusses one such example: the discovery of boron.
223 views0 comments
Marabel Riesmeier
- Nov 26, 2021
- 5 min
Understanding chemical substance (is harder than you might think)
What is a chemical substance? In this post, Marabel Riesmeier argues that answering this question is more complicated than one might think.
155 views0 comments
Sarah Hijmans
- Nov 9, 2021
- 6 min
How to identify simple substances: chlorine vs. oxymuriatic acid
How are simple substances identified when it is difficult to tell whether a substance has been decomposed or not?
183 views0 comments
Megan Piorko
- Oct 26, 2021
- 3 min
Cipher Treasure Hunt Part II: A Secret Key Hidden in Plain Sight
Megan Piorko updates us on the quest to solve a historical cipher. It turns out the secret key was hidden in plain sight...
688 views0 comments
Megan Piorko & Sarah Lang
- Jun 29, 2021
- 4 min
Cipher Treasure Hunt
In this post, Megan Piorko and Sarah Lang take us along on their alchemical quest to solve a historical cipher.
2,282 views1 comment
Chris Campbell
- Jun 7, 2021
- 4 min
Are chemical models iconic?
Accounts of how diagrams and models represent scientific objects, such as molecules and crystal structures, can be captured under two...
268 views0 comments
Hernán Accorinti and Juan Camilo Martínez González
- Apr 9, 2021
- 4 min
Are chemical models representative?
Challenging the traditional theory-centered view, the philosophy of science of the last decades has directed its attention to models.
133 views0 comments
Alexander Franklin
- Mar 26, 2021
- 5 min
From Molecules to Many Worlds
This essay is about a problem that besets chemists’ explanation of how molecular structure comes about.
165 views0 comments
Juan Camilo Martínez González & Olimpia Lombardi
- Mar 1, 2021
- 5 min
The ontological breakdown between molecular chemistry and quantum mechanics
One of the hottest topics in the philosophy of chemistry is the relationship between chemistry and physics.
204 views0 comments
Karoliina Pulkkinen
- Nov 23, 2020
- 4 min
Cloudbusting
Consider the clouds. Then consider those who consider clouds. Cloud-spotters, meteorologists, and atmospheric scientists come to mind....
43 views0 comments
Sarah Hijmans
- Nov 2, 2020
- 6 min
Who Discovered Aluminium - and why is that such a difficult question?
Starting from the history of aluminium, this piece reflects on the nature of scientific discovery.
570 views0 comments
Katy Duncan
- Oct 19, 2020
- 8 min
Electrolysis and Education: Learning Models not Facts
In this piece, Katy Duncan explores the seemingly contradictory ways we teach the electrolysis of water to teenagers.
383 views0 comments
Vanessa Seifert
- Oct 6, 2020
- 5 min
Strong Emergence in Chemistry
The debate about chemistry’s relation to quantum physics has been a persisting one. Is chemistry reduced to quantum physics or is there...
252 views0 comments
Sarah Hijmans
- Sep 21, 2020
- 6 min
Andrés Manuel del Rio and the Two Discoveries of Vanadium
How come an element was forgotten for 30 years? This article tells the exciting story of the discovery, loss and rediscovery of vanadium.
592 views0 comments
Chris Campbell
- Aug 28, 2020
- 4 min
Josiah Parsons Cooke (1827-1894): the forgotten American precursor to the periodic table
Following the 150th anniversary of the periodic table, Chris Campbell highlights the forgotten work of Josiah Parsons Cooke (1827-1894).
358 views0 comments
Karoliina Pulkkinen
- Jul 20, 2020
- 4 min
What’s the point of looking into values in chemistry?
In his 1991 book Inference to the Best Explanation, Peter Lipton argued that identification of the best explanation out of a pool of...
70 views0 comments
Sarah Hijmans
- Jul 1, 2020
- 4 min
The Short History of (the Element) Jargonium
From 1869 to 1870, a new element was the object of a heated priority debate. Who deserved to be called the discoverer of jargonium?
117 views0 comments
Vanessa Seifert
- Jun 2, 2020
- 5 min
Philosophy of chemistry- is that a thing???!!
Philosophy of chemistry – that is a thing! Whether one thinks of it as a separate field of philosophy or as a sub-discipline within the...
279 views0 comments
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