In scientific revolutions, the chemical revolution (1718-1869) refers to the period of the transition of the mystical alchemy into the quantitative subject of modern chemistry, a period characterized by a huge amount of chemical theory development. The chemical revolution started with the publication of English physicist Isaac Newton’s Query 31 appended to the 1718 edition of his Opticks, in which he verbally stated proportional affinity relationships to a number of chemical entities. [1] This verbal description converted into an affinity table, that year, by French chemist Etienne Geoffrey, thus giving chemists a functional tool with which to go about obtaining desired chemical reactions. The chemical revolution can be said to have ended with Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleyev's 1869 construction of the periodic table.
Quotes
The following are related quotes:
“The importance of the end in view prompted me to undertake all this work, which seemed to me destined to bring about a revolution in . . . chemistry.”
— Antoine Lavoisier (1773), Feb 20
References
1. (a) Muir, Matthew M.P. (1907). A History of Chemical Theories and Laws (ch. XIV: Chemical Affinity, pgs. 379-430). Wiley.
(b) Kim, Mi Gyung. (2003). Affinity, That Elusive Dream – A Genealogy of the Chemical Revolution. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press.
External links
● Chemical revolution – Wikipedia.
