The Emergence of Cosmochemistry

In 1947, the same year that Goldschmidt died, the Finnish geochemist Kalervo Rankama pointed out to his American colleagues that there was no consensus about the concept of geochemistry and that there seemed to be some fundamental 

Modern cosmochemists consider their science in much the same perspective as Goldschmidt and Rankama outlined more than half a century ago. Thus, according to a recent textbook, the cosmochemist has two basic tasks The first is to determine the chemical composition in the material universe... The second task is to understand the reasons for the compositions that are found. [110] Goldschmidt would have completely agreed. 

From Geochemistry to Cosmochemistry The Origin °fa Scientific Discipline, 1915 1955 

1 For aspects of interdisciplinarity and the emergence of new disciplines, including agricultural chemistry and physical chemistry as case studies, see G. Lemaine et al. (eds.), Perspectives on the Emergence of Scien- 

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