Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: On March 7, 2023, a personal circle was closed.Thirty years ago, a handful of young academics founded what they called the "APC" (Arbeitskreis Philosophie und Chemie) in my home institution, Coburg´s small university (Upper Franconia/Bavaria/Germany).Latest after that June 1993, my main research interests turned to the history and philosophy of chemistry.Hence, with the Centenary Workshop, I am happy to look back to a busy period filled with (hopefully not always unsuccessful) teaching, instructing, and administrating.During that very period, however, I also witnessed (and took part in) the birth and development of what some observers tend to call modern philosophy of chemistry.The idea to hold a meeting on the mentioned topic emerged from my research activities over the last almost ten years, during which I was lucky to spend some time at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science in Cambridge and collaborate with Hasok Chang (Ruthenberg and Chang 2017, 2020).In 2022, Eric Scerri published a paper in this journal, in which he supported what I call the electronistic position regarding acidity, which commenced with Gilbert Lewis´ book "Valence" in 1923.Hence, it seemed to be a natural step to ask both scholars to contribute to our Workshop, and I was extremely happy that the two of them agreed to do this.Because their pertinent publications were already out, I ask the readers to kindly refer to the following references: Chang 2011Chang , 2012Chang , 2016Chang , 2022;;Scerri 2022).Also actively contributing to the Zoom-meeting were three other friends.Apostolos Gerontas, a historian of science with a background in chemistry, is a lecturer at Coburg University.After having served as one of the examiners in his doctoral examination at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, I was part of the hiring committee as to a lectureship in the history and philosophy of science (a still unusual field for a small university of applied sciences).For many years, Apostolos and I have been colleagues, conducted student projects on acidity
Source: Foundations of Chemistry
Author: Klaus Ruthenberg
Institution: Coburg University of Applied Sciences
Language: English
Subfield: Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,890
OpenAlex ID: W4388681806