University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The long and short of it: The future writing of history of chemistry

Brock, William H.

Content Files
bhc2022v047p138.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/128619

Description

Title
The long and short of it: The future writing of history of chemistry
Author(s)
Brock, William H.
Issue Date
2022-01-01
Keyword(s)
  • Chemistry
  • History
  • Monographs
Abstract
Following reflections on the experience of writing a long, thick history of chemistry in 1992 and, some 24 years later, a short thin one in 2016, the author notes how quickly the historiography of chemistry changed in just two decades. He asks whether book-length histories of chemistry, whether long or short, have a future. While the writing of biographical articles may seem straightforward, journal articles present problems as contemporary chemistry becomes more and more bound up with its sister sciences, computing and engineering, and the history of science with social and cultural history. Probably the only way to tackle late-twentieth and twenty-first-century chemistry satisfactorily is through a collaboration between technically-trained chemists and historians of science who may (or may not) have studied chemistry in their early education. The author reflects on two of his recent experiences of such collaboration.
Publisher
Division of the History of Chemistry
ISSN
1053-4385
Type of Resource
text
Genre of Resource
article
Language
eng
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/128619
DOI
https://doi.org/10.70359/bhc2022v047p138
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2022 Division of the History of Chemistry

Owning Collections

Bulletin for the History of Chemistry: Volume 47, Number 1, 2022 PRIMARY