CfP Pauling's "Nature of chemical bond"
6th
International Conference of European Society of History of Science, Lisbon,
Portugal, 4--6 September 2014
Call for
Papers for a session
Pauling's
« Nature of chemical bond » in post WWII European chemical curricula
The
American chemist Linus Pauling began investigating the forces that
held
together atoms to form molecules using quantum physics in a series
of
articles published between 1931 and 1933. His quantum mechanical
approach
was further developed and later disseminated through his
ground-breaking
textbook "The Nature of the Chemical Bond" published in
1939,
soon to be followed by a second revised edition in 1940.
Considered
a milestone in theoretical chemistry in the late 1940s
already,
its circulation in Europe was however hindered by World War II
and the
subsequent partition of the Old Continent in two blocks that
added to
the natural inertia of scientific curriculum to novelty. As a
consequence,
in some places it could take a generation before the
implications
of this new approach was fully incorporated into the
scientific
and teaching communities.
This
session aspires to explore how the appropriation developed, and how
local
cultures of chemistry and indigenous teaching policies and
traditions
adapted the main principles of Pauling´s quantum approach to
chemical
bond to their chemistry curricula at the higher education
level,
including continuing education.
To that
aim, a survey of the many translations (who, when, where, why
and for
whom?) of the "The Nature of the Chemical Bond" may serve as a
starting
point for analysis. Likewise, studies of the translations and
uses of
Pauling's textbook "General Chemistry", the spreading of which
further
served to establish the new description of chemical bonding, can
add
further knowledge about the spread of Pauling's ideas. The session
furthermore
welcomes analysis of the incorporation of Pauling's ideas
into
textbooks and syllabi, as well and studies of the impact of
personal
contacts. Young chemists were indeed sent abroad and became
vectors
of the novelty they were eager to put into practise in their own
teaching
and research.
We
welcome papers presenting case-studies of the various local response
to
Pauling's "Nature of the Chemical Bond" in all European countries,
both
those considered as central and peripherical.
If you
would like to contribute please send your abstract (250, max. 300
Brigitte
Van Tiggelen (Mémosciences and Université catholique de
Louvain,
Louvain-la-neuve)
Danielle
Fauque (GHDSO University Paris Sud, and Club d'histoire de la
chimie,
SCF, Paris)
Gisela
Boeck (Institut für Chemie, Universität Rostock, Rostock)
Annette
Lykknes (Programme for Teacher Education (PLU), Norwegian
University
of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim)