Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T12:26:00.452Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Preparing the ground for quantum chemistry in Great Britain: the work of the physicist R. H. Fowler and the chemist N. V. Sidgwick

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2002

KOSTAS GAVROGLU
Affiliation:
Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens, John Kennedy 37, Ilisia, 161–21 Athens, Greece.
ANA SIMÕES
Affiliation:
Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, C8, Piso 6, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.

Abstract

In this paper we will discuss some of the issues related to the attempts of Ralph Howard Fowler and Nevil Vincent Sidgwick to create a legitimizing space for quantum and theoretical chemistry in Britain. Although neither Fowler nor Sidgwick made original contributions to quantum chemistry, they followed closely the developments in the discipline, participated in meetings and discussions and delivered lectures, talks and addresses, where methodological topics, ontological questions and implicitly the problem of autonomy of the new discipline vis-à-vis both physics and chemistry were taken to be pressing issues. In particular, they encouraged young people to work within the nascent discipline. Viewing quantum chemistry as a branch of applied mathematics became an emblematic characteristic of the practice of the new discipline in Great Britain.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2002 British Society for the History of Science

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)