The Evolving Realm of Inorganic Chemistry

Although serving some useful functions, the division of chemistry into five major subdisciplines is not as simplifying as it might appear. Principally, this is 

To appreciate the present and future realm of inorganic chemistry better, it may be instructive to investigate briefly its past. Who were the first inorganic chemists What did they study How did the realm of inorganic chemistry evolve into what it is today How would a knowledge of inorganic chemistry better inform everyone about how the world works the way it does  

Over the 66 years since Lavoisier s death, the number had roughly doubled again, and now more than half the elements were known. 

On the more empirical front, industrial inorganic chemistry flowered. Some examples include the development of Portland cement in 1824, the patenting in 1831 of the contact process that was to revolutionize the production of sulfuric acid, the origin of the phosphate fertilizer industry in England in 1843, and the development of the diaphragm cell for the electrolytic generation of chlorine in 1851. 

The progress in inorganic industrial chemistry continued during the period from 1860 to the turn of the century. New advances included the Solvay process for 

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