How are simple substances identified when it is difficult to tell whether a substance has been decomposed or not?

Megan Piorko updates us on the quest to solve a historical cipher. It turns out the secret key was hidden in plain sight...

In this post, Megan Piorko and Sarah Lang take us along on their alchemical quest to solve a historical cipher.

Accounts of how diagrams and models represent scientific objects, such as molecules and crystal structures, can be captured under two...

Challenging the traditional theory-centered view, the philosophy of science of the last decades has directed its attention to models.

This essay is about a problem that besets chemists’ explanation of how molecular structure comes about.

One of the hottest topics in the philosophy of chemistry is the relationship between chemistry and physics.

Consider the clouds. Then consider those who consider clouds. Cloud-spotters, meteorologists, and atmospheric scientists come to mind....

Starting from the history of aluminium, this piece reflects on the nature of scientific discovery.

In this piece, Katy Duncan explores the seemingly contradictory ways we teach the electrolysis of water to teenagers.

The debate about chemistry’s relation to quantum physics has been a persisting one. Is chemistry reduced to quantum physics or is there...

How come an element was forgotten for 30 years? This article tells the exciting story of the discovery, loss and rediscovery of vanadium.

Following the 150th anniversary of the periodic table, Chris Campbell highlights the forgotten work of Josiah Parsons Cooke (1827-1894).

In his 1991 book Inference to the Best Explanation, Peter Lipton argued that identification of the best explanation out of a pool of...

From 1869 to 1870, a new element was the object of a heated priority debate. Who deserved to be called the discoverer of jargonium?

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...