Nicholas C. Norman
What are Molecules and are Molecules Made of Atoms?
The question which forms the title of this essay is simple enough and, to my mind, merits a simple and unequivocal answer: yes.
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Essays
Paulina S. Gennermann
Jul 55 min
Bridging the gap between chemistry and society: natural and artificial from a history of flavour’s perspective
How studying the history of synthetic flavouring agents can help us understand science, industry, society and the relations between them.
49 views0 comments
Armel Cornu
Oct 18, 20235 min
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.
63 views0 comments
K. Brad Wray
Aug 29, 20235 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...
131 views0 comments
Vanessa Seifert
Mar 10, 20234 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
117 views0 comments
Sofiya Kamalova
Sep 26, 20227 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.
202 views0 comments
Francesca Bellazzi
Sep 7, 20225 min
Genes: from instruments of thought to the base of life
Does the way we think about scientific entities matter to scientific practice?
317 views0 comments
Armel Cornu
Aug 23, 20227 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.
84 views0 comments
James Ladyman & Vanessa Seifert
May 24, 20225 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
271 views0 comments
Francesca Bellazzi
May 5, 20226 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...
468 views0 comments
Marina Paola Banchetti-Robino
Apr 15, 20225 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"
149 views0 comments
Alison McManus
Feb 14, 20228 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?
367 views0 comments
Jonathon Hricko
Jan 20, 20224 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.
306 views0 comments
Marabel Riesmeier
Nov 26, 20215 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.
258 views0 comments
Sarah Hijmans
Nov 9, 20216 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?
214 views0 comments
Megan Piorko
Oct 26, 20213 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...
803 views0 comments
Megan Piorko & Sarah Lang
Jun 29, 20214 min
Cipher Treasure Hunt
In this post, Megan Piorko and Sarah Lang take us along on their alchemical quest to solve a historical cipher.
2,553 views1 comment
Chris Campbell
Jun 7, 20214 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...
281 views0 comments
Hernán Accorinti and Juan Camilo Martínez González
Apr 9, 20214 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.
170 views0 comments
Alexander Franklin
Mar 26, 20215 min
From Molecules to Many Worlds
This essay is about a problem that besets chemists’ explanation of how molecular structure comes about.
190 views0 comments
Juan Camilo Martínez González & Olimpia Lombardi
Mar 1, 20215 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.
250 views0 comments
Karoliina Pulkkinen
Nov 23, 20204 min
Cloudbusting
Consider the clouds. Then consider those who consider clouds. Cloud-spotters, meteorologists, and atmospheric scientists come to mind....
50 views0 comments
Sarah Hijmans
Nov 2, 20206 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.
689 views0 comments
Katy Duncan
Oct 19, 20208 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.
425 views0 comments
Vanessa Seifert
Oct 6, 20205 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...
312 views0 comments
Sarah Hijmans
Sep 21, 20206 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.
819 views0 comments
Chris Campbell
Aug 28, 20204 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).
411 views0 comments
Karoliina Pulkkinen
Jul 20, 20204 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...
74 views0 comments
Sarah Hijmans
Jul 1, 20204 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?
139 views0 comments
Vanessa Seifert
Jun 2, 20205 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...
356 views0 comments
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