
Early Responses to the Periodic System
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 2. April 2015
Book
Hardback
344 pages
978-0-19-020007-7 (ISBN)
Description
The reception of the periodic system of elements has received little attention. Many historians have studied Mendeleev's discovery of the periodic system, but few have analyzed how 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 suggested the need to extend this study to other countries.
Early Responses to the Periodic System is the first collection of comparative studies on the reception, response, and appropriation of the periodic system of elements. This book examines the history of pedagogy and popularization in scientific communities, educational sectors, and popular culture from the 1870s to the 1920s. Fifteen historians of science explore 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 nineteenth century scientific research.
The collection, organized by nation-state, explores how local actors regarded the new discovery as law, classification, or theoretical interpretation. The section on France discusses how a small but significant group of authors, including Adolphe Wurtz and Edouard Grimaux, introduced the periodic system as support for the atomic theory-not as the final solution to the longstanding quest for a natural classification of elements. The chapter on Germany discusses the role of Lothar Meyer, also awarded The Davy Medal for the discovery of the periodic system. Meyer's role was considered less important, and he was forgotten in his home country, Germany where educational tradition was well established, and the periodic system was not used as a novel didactic approach. In addition to discussing the appropriation of the periodic system, the collection examines metaphysical reflections of nature based on the periodic system outside of chemistry and considers how far we can push the categories of "response " and "reception. "
Early Responses to the Periodic System is the first collection of comparative studies on the reception, response, and appropriation of the periodic system of elements. This book examines the history of pedagogy and popularization in scientific communities, educational sectors, and popular culture from the 1870s to the 1920s. Fifteen historians of science explore 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 nineteenth century scientific research.
The collection, organized by nation-state, explores how local actors regarded the new discovery as law, classification, or theoretical interpretation. The section on France discusses how a small but significant group of authors, including Adolphe Wurtz and Edouard Grimaux, introduced the periodic system as support for the atomic theory-not as the final solution to the longstanding quest for a natural classification of elements. The chapter on Germany discusses the role of Lothar Meyer, also awarded The Davy Medal for the discovery of the periodic system. Meyer's role was considered less important, and he was forgotten in his home country, Germany where educational tradition was well established, and the periodic system was not used as a novel didactic approach. In addition to discussing the appropriation of the periodic system, the collection examines metaphysical reflections of nature based on the periodic system outside of chemistry and considers how far we can push the categories of "response " and "reception. "
Reviews / Votes
An important addition to the literature on the history of chemistry. It gives a sound answer to the question it posed itself: How did the Periodic system come to be accepted by chemists throughout the world? * John Nicholson, Royal Society of Chemistry Historical Group * Early Reponses to the Periodic System is remarkably detailed, with copious notes and references, and written by knowledgeable experts from various countries ... Every chapter has been well researched * John Ensley, Chemistry & Industry *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
with 30 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
681 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-020007-7 (9780190200077)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Masanori Kaji | Helge Kragh | Gabor Pallo
Early Responses to the Periodic System
E-Book
01/2015
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€35.49
Available for download

Masanori Kaji | Helge Kragh | Gabor Pallo
Early Responses to the Periodic System
E-Book
01/2015
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€35.49
Available for download
Persons
Masanori Kaji is an Associate Professor of the History of Science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He wrote Mendeleev: The Discoverer of the Periodic Law of Elements (Toyo Shoten, 2007) and Mendeleev's Discovery of the Periodic Law of the Chemical Elements--The Scientific and Socieal Context of His Discovery (Hokkaido University Press, 1997).
Editor
Professor of the History of ScienceProfessor of the History of Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Professor of History of ScienceProfessor of History of Science, Aarhus University
Senior Consultant at Visual Learning LabSenior Consultant at Visual Learning Lab, Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Content
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 Garcia 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 Strba?ova ; 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 ; Jose Ramon Bertomeu-Sanchez, Rosa Munoz-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