ATOMS IN CHEMISTRY

The concepts of oxidation and reduction go back to discoveries made at the end of the eighteenth century, particularly by the French chemist Lavoisier. He made a number of discoveries and improvements during the French revolution (1789-1799). For example, he discovered oxygen and introduced the SI unit for length (1 m). Unfortunately, he was executed by the guillotine by the revolutionary government. 

Chemists, for example, the Swede Jons Jakob Berzelius, began to determine atomic masses and valence numbers. Well before the end of the nineteenth century (1869), the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev established the periodic table. 

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Atoms in Chemistry From Dalton s Predecessors to Complex Atoms and Beyond... 

In Atoms in Chemistry From Dalton s Predecessors to Complex Atoms and Beyond Giunta, C. ACS Symposium Series American Chemical Society Washington, DC, 2010. 

Atoms in chemistry from Dalton s predecessors to complex atoms and beyond / Carmen J. Giunta, editor. 

This volume contains presentations from a symposium titled 200 Years of Atoms in Chemistry From Dalton s Atoms to Nanotechnology, held at the 236th national meeting of ACS in Philadelphia in August 2008. The occasion was the 200th aimiversary of the publication of John Dalton s A New System of Chemical Philosophy (1). 

As already noted, the symposium did not include atoms in nanotechnology. Neither did it treat the quantum-mechanical atom. So the near end of the historical span actually included in the symposium extended to the first half of the 20 century. The far end of that span turned out to be closer to two millenia ago than two centuries. As a result, the title of the symposium series volume is Atoms in Chemistry From Dalton s Predecessors to Complex Atoms and Beyond. 

To physically visit the sites described by the Marshalls requires a passport. It is hoped that this voltrme itself can serve as a passport to important episodes from the more than 200-year history of atoms in chemistry. 

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