The Long Story of Discovery

It is difficult to construct a satisfactory outline of the many complex turns in the discovery of the RE metals. One element, discovered at a certain point of time, might after further research with improved separation and analysis methods be shown to consist of two or three elements. After a subdivision of the element of this type one of the elements would keep the older name, while new names were given to the other elements. This became almost an unwritten law, followed in all cases but one (see section 17.4.10.1). Reading about the RE discoveries is made easier if done in conjunction with the diagram in Eigure 17.3. 

Separation and purification were exceptionally difficult. Most discoveries were made using time-consuming and labor-intensive methods involving fractional crystallization. 

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The book Science and Corporate Strategy DuPont R D, 1902-1980 by Hounshell and Smith (1988) presents a well-documented story of the long journey of nylon from discovery to the marketplace. A large number of people were involved. The effort received many lucky breaks, as well as entering and abandoning numerous blind alleys, and requiring dedication and determination when things looked bleak. The journey can be divided into a number of phases that overlap in time the exploration-discovery phase, the development phase, and the commercialization-business phases. 

The decision to even tell stories is one of approach, along with how to tell them. Michael Ambrosino, who created the long-running PBS science series Nova in 1973 (which was inspired by the BBC series Horizon), says, "We conceived Nova as a series that would explore and explain the way the world worked. We would use science as a tool, but we would primarily think of ourselves as journalists looking for the stories of science." The reason for the stories "It s not possible to make a film about the crab nebula and have you be interested in it or understand it," Ambrosino says. "It is possible to tell the story of the dozen or so men and women who are trying to find out what was the core of the crab nebula. And in telling their story of discovery, you had a story that was understandable."... 

Isaac Asimov here relates the story of the long quest to identify the stuff of which the universe is made. From Thales of Miletus to Seaborg of California, from alchemy to the cyclotron, from the search for the secret of turning lead into gold to the making of artificial elements, it has been a tale of follies, fakery, brilliant discoveries, and steadily building excitement... 

At long last, we ask you to read the Introduction to the aldehydes-in-beer article (excerpt 6A). If you have progressed through these textbook chapters sequentially, you have already read the Methods, Results, and Discussion sections. Admittedly, this order may seem a bit unusual. Remember, however, we want you to read the Introduction through the eyes of the writer, not the reader. As authors write their Introduction, they already know what unfolds in the rest of their paper now you, too, have this perspective. (If necessary, refer back to chapters 3—5, and excerpts 3A and 4A, to refresh your memory.) As you read the Introduction, consider how the authors introduce their story of scientific discovery. 

Scientific research is not a pursuit for anyone who is interested in immediate returns on their work. Sometimes researchers spend a dozen years or more—and sometimes their whole lifetimes—before realizing a goal. This is often the case in biomedical research, where a discovery or invention alone is not the end of a research project. That discovery or invention then must typically go through a long and complex testing phase that may last 10 years or more. Such has been the story of the father of artificial blood cells, Thomas Ming Swi Chang. 

The significance of theoretical studies as a mandatory prerequisite for the rational use of synthetic methods can be demonstrated by the story of the pericyclic reactions. The Diels-Alder reaction, a [4 -H 2] cycloaddition belonging to this class, was elaborated into a reliable synthetic method shortly after its discovery because its main properties were well-accounted for in the terms of a unified (albeit rather oversimplified) mechanism. On the other hand, the [2 -I- 2] cycloaddition of various alkenes, a reaction also known for many decades, stayed for a long time as a highly promising but little understood set of transformations. This process is described formally in Scheme 2.12. 

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