Early Responses to the Periodic System (Bookzcity

Further Details About This Book:

Although a great number of historians have studied Mendeleev’s discovery of the
periodic system of chemical elements, few have looked at how the scientific community
has perceived and employed this system in various areas of the world. This
book fills this gap. In addition, for the evaluation of the periodic system, this book
looks not only at scientific communities, but also at the educational sector and local
popular culture.
The idea of a comparative project on the early reception of the periodic system
occurred to one of the editors (Masanori Kaji) during the 6th Science and
Technology in the European Periphery (STEP) meeting in Istanbul in June, 2008.
He engaged historians of chemistry and organized sessions devoted to this project
at international conferences: the 7th International Conference on the History
of Chemistry (Sopron, Hungary, August 2–5, 2009); the 7th STEP meeting (Galway,
Ireland, June 17–20, 2010); and the 4th International Conference of the European
Society for the History of Science (Barcelona, Spain, November 18–20, 2010). After
these meetings, the following fifteen participants were brought together for this
project, accounting for eleven countries and one region:
Gisela Boeck (Germany), Nathan Brooks (Russia), Marco Ciardi (Italy), Antonio
García Belmar (France), Masanori Kaji (Russia and Japan), Helge Kragh (Denmark),
Anders Lundgren (Sweden), Annette Lykknes (Norway), Isabel Malaquias
(Portugal), Rosa Muñoz Bello (Spain), José Ramón Bertomeu Sánchez (Spain), Soňa
Štrbáňová (the Czech Lands), Marco Taddia (Italy), Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent
(France), and Gordon Woods (Great Britain).