Neither Physics nor Chemistry: A History of Quantum Chemistry
Book Description: Quantum
chemistry--a discipline that is not quite physics, not quite chemistry,
and not quite applied mathematics--emerged as a field of study in the
1920s. It was referred to by such terms as mathematical chemistry,
subatomic theoretical chemistry, molecular quantum mechanics, and
chemical physics until the community agreed on the designation of
quantum chemistry. In Neither Physics Nor Chemistry, Kostas Gavroglu and
Ana Simões examine the evolution of quantum chemistry into an
autonomous discipline, tracing its development from the publication of
early papers in the 1920s to the dramatic changes brought about by the
use of computers in the 1970s. The authors focus on the culture that
emerged from the creative synthesis of the various traditions of
chemistry, physics, and mathematics. They examine the concepts,
practices, languages, and institutions of this new culture as well as
the people who established it, from such pioneers as Walter Heitler and
Fritz London, Linus Pauling, and Robert Sanderson Mulliken, to later
figures including Charles Alfred Coulson, Raymond Daudel, and Per-Olov
Löwdin. Throughout, the authors emphasize six themes: epistemic aspects
and the dilemmas caused by multiple approaches; social issues, including
academic politics, the impact of textbooks, and the forging of
alliances; the contingencies that arose at every stage of the
developments in quantum chemistry; the changes in the field when
computers were available to perform the extraordinarily cumbersome
calculations required; issues in the philosophy of science; and
different styles of reasoning.
eISBN: 978-0-262-29875-9
Subjects: Chemistry, History of Science & Technology
