Renewable energies have a downside. Windmills, for instance, need a considerable amount of the ne... more Renewable energies have a downside. Windmills, for instance, need a considerable amount of the neodymium rare earth for the permanent magnet needed to convert windpower into electrical power.
To depict a budding love Stendhal in "De l'Amour" introduces a crystallisation metaphor. The imag... more To depict a budding love Stendhal in "De l'Amour" introduces a crystallisation metaphor. The image is from a twig abandoned in the depths of a salt mine and recovered adorned with a myriad of sparkling crystals. This essay places this analogy at the confluence of the chemical science contemporary with Stendhal, and of a Literary tradition that nurtured mythical properties of crystals, such as their purity, or their protracted incubation within the wonb of Mother Earth. The scientific bent of Stendhal made him devise such a crystallisation model. Finally a discussion of the science-literature paradigm is offered. The mute parts of the scientific discourse are those to focus inquiry on, it is submitted.
This paper presents views on the teaching of chemistry and directions for its further development... more This paper presents views on the teaching of chemistry and directions for its further development. A detailed critical analysis is offered for the inadequacy of much of the current teaching, weighed that it is by a conventional, traditional and, as it turns out,
rather outdated sense of the material to be covered. The ambient meta-discourse on the nature of chemistry is unduly dominated by the physicalist assumption, believing chemistry to be reducible to physics, which I hold to be unrefutable and thus parascientific. This
all-too-tenuous link is countered with a parallel, bolstered by a slew of examples and analogies, between chemistry and linguistics: it is both more legitimate, in terms of the
supporting evidence, considerably more effective than a physicalist approach. Chemical teaching needs to hybridize the bottom-up and the top-down communication vectors between the students and their teacher. It can only benefit from infusion of a strong dose of history. Chemistry ought to be taught in like manner to a language, on the dual evidence of the existence of an iconic chemical language, of formulas and equations; and of chemical
science being language-like and a combinatorial art.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears... more Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Dans ces conditions, que mon choix se soit porté sur un texte non pas scientifique, mais pseudo-s... more Dans ces conditions, que mon choix se soit porté sur un texte non pas scientifique, mais pseudo-scientifique -ou plus exactement pré-scientifique -, emprunté à l'abondante et irritante littérature de l'alchimie, relève à l'évidence d'une attitude d'esquive : paraître éluder la question pour se mettre en mesure d'y répondre !
In these prolegomena to a chemical aesthetics, eleven separate theses are asserted: (1) the natur... more In these prolegomena to a chemical aesthetics, eleven separate theses are asserted: (1) the natural is more beautiful; (2) the artificial is more beautiful; (3) the invisible is yet more beautiful than the visible; (4) the need for visualization is unavoidable; the beauty of chemistry stems from (5) an inner logic and (6) its unpredictability; (7) any change is handsome on account of its invariant elements; (8) the beauty in any change is the fleeting instant; the beauty of chemistry is that it is (9) a science of the complex and (10) a science of the simple; (11) a new contemporary art has been born.
The field of chemistry is highly diverse. Yet, the aggregate picture of chemists, according to th... more The field of chemistry is highly diverse. Yet, the aggregate picture of chemists, according to this study, shows them to constitute a highly homogeneous and even gregarious group, in terms of their self-image. They see themselves as creative, as benefactors of humankind, and as craftsmen upholding a tradition of intelligent hands and preserving, even in the time of Big Science, a relatively low-tech profile. The stereotypical public image as the sorcerer's apprentices who befoul the environment and who manufacture chemical weapons is way off target. Chemists find it a caricature, it only reinforces the good conscience within the chemical community. Other conservative forces are the common language of structural formulas, a widespread phobia about mathematics, and the very length of the apprenticeship to be served. Conversely, between the midtwentieth century and the advent of the twenty-first century, chemists displayed an impressive adaptability in the face of swift changes, regarding the tools of the trade -which the NMR Revolution had contributed to upgrade -, the funding of their activity at a much higher level, the oil crises, and the Biological Turn that affected them during that period.
Any serious study of the uses of molecular models in chemistry has to mention play as an essentia... more Any serious study of the uses of molecular models in chemistry has to mention play as an essential component. A research chemist will use them not unlike a young child playing with a toy: exploring their features, trying out their resilience, probing their innards, tinkering, day-dreaming, and thus finding out new avenues of adventures of the mind and in the laboratory. Reasons for such an assimilation of a molecular model to a toy are given and assessed critically.
The ethics of the chemist identify with those of the citizen, in principle. The observed perversi... more The ethics of the chemist identify with those of the citizen, in principle. The observed perversions, such as proliferation of chemicals, stem from the values of a chemical community closed upon itself, and from the attendant identification of a mere know-how with a science. The epistemic degradation produces moral indifference.
Lederer was one of France's leading mid-and late-twentieth-century chemists and biochemists. He l... more Lederer was one of France's leading mid-and late-twentieth-century chemists and biochemists. He left his mark on the chemistry of natural products (plant and animal pigments and odorants) and saw to a rebirth of chromatography as a tool for microanalysis. His elucidation of the structure and role of lipids and peptidolipids from mycobacteria led to the discovery of novel immunostimulants.
This essay samples contemporary scientific poetry, and finds it delightful, lavish with gems grea... more This essay samples contemporary scientific poetry, and finds it delightful, lavish with gems great and small, if somewhat narrow in the range of topics it tackles. Some thoughts on opacity and opaqueness and on reading poetry are followed by discussion of two recent anthologies, A Quark for Mister Mark and Songs from Unsung Worlds, and by particular consideration of the work of Charles Simic, Diane Ackerman and Roald Hoffmann.
Renewable energies have a downside. Windmills, for instance, need a considerable amount of the ne... more Renewable energies have a downside. Windmills, for instance, need a considerable amount of the neodymium rare earth for the permanent magnet needed to convert windpower into electrical power.
To depict a budding love Stendhal in "De l'Amour" introduces a crystallisation metaphor. The imag... more To depict a budding love Stendhal in "De l'Amour" introduces a crystallisation metaphor. The image is from a twig abandoned in the depths of a salt mine and recovered adorned with a myriad of sparkling crystals. This essay places this analogy at the confluence of the chemical science contemporary with Stendhal, and of a Literary tradition that nurtured mythical properties of crystals, such as their purity, or their protracted incubation within the wonb of Mother Earth. The scientific bent of Stendhal made him devise such a crystallisation model. Finally a discussion of the science-literature paradigm is offered. The mute parts of the scientific discourse are those to focus inquiry on, it is submitted.
This paper presents views on the teaching of chemistry and directions for its further development... more This paper presents views on the teaching of chemistry and directions for its further development. A detailed critical analysis is offered for the inadequacy of much of the current teaching, weighed that it is by a conventional, traditional and, as it turns out,
rather outdated sense of the material to be covered. The ambient meta-discourse on the nature of chemistry is unduly dominated by the physicalist assumption, believing chemistry to be reducible to physics, which I hold to be unrefutable and thus parascientific. This
all-too-tenuous link is countered with a parallel, bolstered by a slew of examples and analogies, between chemistry and linguistics: it is both more legitimate, in terms of the
supporting evidence, considerably more effective than a physicalist approach. Chemical teaching needs to hybridize the bottom-up and the top-down communication vectors between the students and their teacher. It can only benefit from infusion of a strong dose of history. Chemistry ought to be taught in like manner to a language, on the dual evidence of the existence of an iconic chemical language, of formulas and equations; and of chemical
science being language-like and a combinatorial art.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears... more Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Dans ces conditions, que mon choix se soit porté sur un texte non pas scientifique, mais pseudo-s... more Dans ces conditions, que mon choix se soit porté sur un texte non pas scientifique, mais pseudo-scientifique -ou plus exactement pré-scientifique -, emprunté à l'abondante et irritante littérature de l'alchimie, relève à l'évidence d'une attitude d'esquive : paraître éluder la question pour se mettre en mesure d'y répondre !
In these prolegomena to a chemical aesthetics, eleven separate theses are asserted: (1) the natur... more In these prolegomena to a chemical aesthetics, eleven separate theses are asserted: (1) the natural is more beautiful; (2) the artificial is more beautiful; (3) the invisible is yet more beautiful than the visible; (4) the need for visualization is unavoidable; the beauty of chemistry stems from (5) an inner logic and (6) its unpredictability; (7) any change is handsome on account of its invariant elements; (8) the beauty in any change is the fleeting instant; the beauty of chemistry is that it is (9) a science of the complex and (10) a science of the simple; (11) a new contemporary art has been born.
The field of chemistry is highly diverse. Yet, the aggregate picture of chemists, according to th... more The field of chemistry is highly diverse. Yet, the aggregate picture of chemists, according to this study, shows them to constitute a highly homogeneous and even gregarious group, in terms of their self-image. They see themselves as creative, as benefactors of humankind, and as craftsmen upholding a tradition of intelligent hands and preserving, even in the time of Big Science, a relatively low-tech profile. The stereotypical public image as the sorcerer's apprentices who befoul the environment and who manufacture chemical weapons is way off target. Chemists find it a caricature, it only reinforces the good conscience within the chemical community. Other conservative forces are the common language of structural formulas, a widespread phobia about mathematics, and the very length of the apprenticeship to be served. Conversely, between the midtwentieth century and the advent of the twenty-first century, chemists displayed an impressive adaptability in the face of swift changes, regarding the tools of the trade -which the NMR Revolution had contributed to upgrade -, the funding of their activity at a much higher level, the oil crises, and the Biological Turn that affected them during that period.
Any serious study of the uses of molecular models in chemistry has to mention play as an essentia... more Any serious study of the uses of molecular models in chemistry has to mention play as an essential component. A research chemist will use them not unlike a young child playing with a toy: exploring their features, trying out their resilience, probing their innards, tinkering, day-dreaming, and thus finding out new avenues of adventures of the mind and in the laboratory. Reasons for such an assimilation of a molecular model to a toy are given and assessed critically.
The ethics of the chemist identify with those of the citizen, in principle. The observed perversi... more The ethics of the chemist identify with those of the citizen, in principle. The observed perversions, such as proliferation of chemicals, stem from the values of a chemical community closed upon itself, and from the attendant identification of a mere know-how with a science. The epistemic degradation produces moral indifference.
Lederer was one of France's leading mid-and late-twentieth-century chemists and biochemists. He l... more Lederer was one of France's leading mid-and late-twentieth-century chemists and biochemists. He left his mark on the chemistry of natural products (plant and animal pigments and odorants) and saw to a rebirth of chromatography as a tool for microanalysis. His elucidation of the structure and role of lipids and peptidolipids from mycobacteria led to the discovery of novel immunostimulants.
This essay samples contemporary scientific poetry, and finds it delightful, lavish with gems grea... more This essay samples contemporary scientific poetry, and finds it delightful, lavish with gems great and small, if somewhat narrow in the range of topics it tackles. Some thoughts on opacity and opaqueness and on reading poetry are followed by discussion of two recent anthologies, A Quark for Mister Mark and Songs from Unsung Worlds, and by particular consideration of the work of Charles Simic, Diane Ackerman and Roald Hoffmann.
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Papers by Pierre Laszlo
rather outdated sense of the material to be covered. The ambient meta-discourse on the nature of chemistry is unduly dominated by the physicalist assumption, believing chemistry to be reducible to physics, which I hold to be unrefutable and thus parascientific. This
all-too-tenuous link is countered with a parallel, bolstered by a slew of examples and analogies, between chemistry and linguistics: it is both more legitimate, in terms of the
supporting evidence, considerably more effective than a physicalist approach. Chemical teaching needs to hybridize the bottom-up and the top-down communication vectors between the students and their teacher. It can only benefit from infusion of a strong dose of history. Chemistry ought to be taught in like manner to a language, on the dual evidence of the existence of an iconic chemical language, of formulas and equations; and of chemical
science being language-like and a combinatorial art.
rather outdated sense of the material to be covered. The ambient meta-discourse on the nature of chemistry is unduly dominated by the physicalist assumption, believing chemistry to be reducible to physics, which I hold to be unrefutable and thus parascientific. This
all-too-tenuous link is countered with a parallel, bolstered by a slew of examples and analogies, between chemistry and linguistics: it is both more legitimate, in terms of the
supporting evidence, considerably more effective than a physicalist approach. Chemical teaching needs to hybridize the bottom-up and the top-down communication vectors between the students and their teacher. It can only benefit from infusion of a strong dose of history. Chemistry ought to be taught in like manner to a language, on the dual evidence of the existence of an iconic chemical language, of formulas and equations; and of chemical
science being language-like and a combinatorial art.