The Periodic Table lies at the heart of chemistry. Its iconic status is beyond question. It is the Rosetta Stone of Chemistry which has helped to unlock layer upon layer of chemical knowledge and a good deal of knowledge on physics too. However, few authors have been drawn to study its evolution and its philosophical significance to any great depth.
There have of course been several popular books on the subject but nothing until now to replace Van Spronsen's classic study of 1969, which in turn marked the one hundredth anniversary of Mendeleev's first published periodic system.
Eric Scerri's new book has received glowing pre-publication reviews as the legitimate successor to Van Spronsen's book, including one from Van Spronsen himself as well as John Emsley and Peter Atkins who have published highly regarded books on the elements and the periodic system respectively. What these reviews point out is the philosophical strand in Scerri's book which is absent from much writing in science these days.
The story begins with an examination of the term 'element' and the early attempts to obtain triads of elements and the use of Prout's hypothesis. The work of six co-discoveres of the periodic system, culminating in that of Mendeleev is documented. Two successive chapters are devoted entirely to Mendeleev to examine his various systems, the manner in which he predicted the properties of new elements and the extent to which predictions influenced the acceptance of the periodic system by others.
The book turns to the influence of physical research including the discoveries of X-rays, radioactivity and isotopy and what these developments meant for the periodic system. Early models of the atom produced in the twentieth century are reviewed in the context of the periodic system. For example Bohr's model of the atom developed as a direct attempt to explain the form of the periodic system, a fact that is frequently obscured by textbook accounts which incorrectly concentrate on his explanation of the spectrum of hydrogen.
Similarly the Pauli exclusion principle arose in response to trying to explain the problem of the 'closing of electron shells'. But chemists such as Gilbert Lewis, Irving Langmuir and Charles Bury were able to obtain more accurate configurations that the physicists could as Scerri documents.
The story turns to the contemporary situation in an attempt to understand the extent to which quantum physics succeeds in 'reducing' the periodic table.
Finally, a chapter is devoted to the question of the evolution of the elements, as well as to some additional chemical aspects of the periodic system which are seldom discussed, such as the Knight's move relationship and secondary periodicity.
Would Mendeleev have approved? We will never know but it is clear that the chemical icon that he contributed to creating lives on in chemistry and indeed all the sciences in a way that few other big ideas in science have survived.
Eric Scerri
UCLA
Bookmark this story with del.icio.us
Digg this story
Furl this item
Have you Reddit?