The History of Chemistry

This episode discusses the general theme of the podcast, its scope (from prehistory to the present), who I am, and the format of the series.

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• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at steve@historyofchem.com
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We discuss the earliest historical practical chemistry, such as bronze, smelting iron, leather-working, mummification, salt as a preservative, dyes, soap, and even the ultimate origin of the word "chemistry". We have a special guest, Biblical Hebrew scholar Michael Carasik of the podcast "Torah Talk" to fill us in on a bit of chemistry in the Hebrew Bible.

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We discuss the first chemical theories, both Chinese and Greek, from ancient times, and some of the philosophers who argued about them.

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• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at steve@historyofchem.com
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10....

We talk about the rise of the mystical Egyptian art, "khemeia," in the Hellenistic Period through the Roman empire.

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• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at steve@historyofchem.com
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBo...

This episode continues with the fall of the Roman Empire, sending the practitioners of Khemeia eastward. We learn of the rise of Arab Alchemy, the source of the word alchemy, and some of the major Arab alchemists: Geber  and Al-Razi, We hear about the two major types of alchemy: exoteric and esoteric. There was a parallel development of alchemy in China as well.

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As Europeans interacted more with Arab traders, many more books of ancient and Arab alchemy filtered into Europe. We learn about advances in glass, discovery of alcohol, gunpowder, mineral acids. We discuss a number of famous European alchemists and philosophers, and the practice of iatrochemistry.

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The Age of Discovery included new science, but alchemy still lingered. We meet the scholars Agricola, Biringuccio, Paracelsus, and more, along with their writings. We learn of the discovery of Glauber's salt, van Helmont's biochemistry experiment, and Sir Francis Bacon, with his method of scientific induction.

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In which we meet Angela Sala, who first described accurately a chemical synthesis, van Helmont and his research into gases, Torricelli and his barometer, and Robert Boyle, the "Sceptical Chymist", with a new definition of an "element." We meet one of the last alchemists, Hennig Brand, and learn what he discovered.

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Here we see the advent of the steam engine, using the knowledge of Boyle's Law, invented by Thomas Savery. We encounter Johann Joachim Becher, with his three elemental earths, including a fatty earth that burned. Then we learn of Georg Ernst Stahl, and his popular idea of phlogiston as the burning quality--but it explained corrosion and rust, too! There is the new calibrated tool, the thermometer, which led to Joseph Black's resear...

We continue with research by Joseph Black, Henry Cavendish, and Joseph Priestley, concerning new "airs". Then there is the work by Karl Scheele, which was delayed being published, and Mikhail Lomonosov, which was generally ignored. Finally we reach Marie-Ann Paulze and Antoine Lavoisier, who created modern chemistry by realizing that phlogiston is bogus and water is not an element. We have a guest speaker, Dr. Martin Rosenberg, on ...

What happened to Joseph Priestley and Marie-Anne plus Antoine Lavoisier? What were the immediate effects of Lavoisier’s new chemistry? We discuss how quickly the new chemistry was accepted, with some evidence in Elizabeth Fulhame’s book, plus the controversy between Berthollet and Proust over chemical composition of substances.

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John Dalton, a Quaker from northern England, was a color-blind scientist. He presented his atomic theory that finally began to make sense to natural philosophers. He also invented a series of symbols for the elements, and created the first table of atomic weights. We learn about Joseph Prout's unusual atomic idea, and Gay-Lussac's work with gases that meshed with atomic theory. Then Alessandro Volta invented the electric battery, w...

In which we discuss Jöns Jakob Berzelius and his work. We also take a short detour to hear what US Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson thought about chemistry. We mention the first female Swedish chemist, Anna Sundström. We continue with the conundrum of atomic weights, but the rule of Dulong and Petit helps this to a degree.

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We reach the beginning of the branch of chemistry called Organic Chemistry. How did organic chemistry differ from inorganic chemistry? Can chemists make organic compounds, or is that restricted only to living creatures? We learn about Friedrich Wöhler, and of Berzelius's theory of radicals, and the problem of isomers.

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We learn about radical theory and type theory in organic chemistry of the 2nd quarter of the 19th century, and the battle between old stalwart Berzelius and the upstart chemists Gerhardt and Laurent. There is a bit of political history from Japan, the Chōshū Five, and their intersection with English chemistry professor Alexander Williamson.

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We learn about Jane Marcet, one of the most popular science writers of the 1800s, and her connection to Michael Faraday, one of the most brilliant experimental scientists and demonstrators of the 1800s, as well as Faraday's investigations into electrochemistry. Faraday asked Reverend William Whewell for electrochemical terminology. We hear about the development of electric batteries, electroplating, and how a German soldier impriso...

This episode explains how I create each episode of the podcast, from researching, to script-writing, recording, and editing.

Support the show

• Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry
• Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at steve@historyofchem.com
• Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/...

Edward Frankland realizes that there are specific valences for atoms. Archibald Scott Couper and August Kekulé simultaneously realize that specific atoms bond to specific other atoms in molecules, particularly carbon with valence 4, and invent ways of drawing this on paper. Kekulé also solved the problem of bonding within the compound benzene, after (so he later told it) a dream. My supporters at Patreon get a reference sheet t...