30 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Men of Science Must Combat Errors
After those few observations upon the properties of matter either organized or inert, (to which I know every Chemist in the country, whose science has conquered the bigotry of his education, will give his assent) I would call upon them all and every one to stand forward and teach mankind those important, those plain truths, which are so clear and so familiar to their own minds. It is the Man of Science who is alone capable of making war upon the Priest, so as to silence him effectually. It is... 1 
notes
notesOr else what reason is their to all their studies?
22 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
What Might Be VS What Is
It has hitherto been a serious impediment to the progress of knowledge, that is in investigating the origin or causes of natural productions, recourse has generally been had to the examination, both by experiment and reasoning, of what might be rather than what is. The laws or processes of nature we have every reason to believe invariable. Their results from time to time vary, according to the combinations of influential circumstances; but the process remains the same. Like the poet or the pa...Folksonomies: observation
Folksonomies: observation
1 notes
notesLooking for one is less productive than observing the other.
11 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Chemicals "Copulate"
From this time everything was copulated. Acetic, formic, butyric, margaric, &c., acids, alkaloids, ethers, amides, anilides, all became copulated bodies. So that to make acetanilide, for example, they no longer employed acetic acid and aniline, but they re-copulated a copulated oxalic acid with a copulated ammonia. I am inventing nothing—altering nothing. Is it my fault if, when writing history, I appear to be composing a romance? 1 notes
notesMaking it sound natural, so the chemist describes his work as composing a romance for the elements' natural affinity for one another.
17 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
Knowledge Must be Combined With Honesty
Knowledge and ability must be combined with ambition as well as with a sense of honesty and a severe conscience. Every analyst occasionally has doubts about the accuracy of his results, and also there are times when he knows his results to be incorrect. Sometimes a few drops of the solution were spilt, or some other slight mistake made. In these cases it requires a strong conscience to repeat the analysis and to make a rough estimate of the loss or apply a correction. Anyone not having suffic... 1 notes
notesResearchers must apply honest rigor to their work; otherwise, their results are detrimental to society.
16 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
Why Do Supernatural Acts Require Mood-Setting Rituals?
If any spiritualistic medium can do stunts, there is no more need for special conditions than there is for a chemist to turn down lights, start operations with a hymn, and ask whether there's any chemical present that has affinity with something named Hydrogen. Folksonomies: skepticism supernatural
Folksonomies: skepticism supernatural
1 notes
notesChemists don't need to turn down the lights. Physicists don't need to chant.
18 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Call for Nitrogen Fixation
England and all civilised nations stand in deadly peril of not having enough to eat. As mouths multiply, food resources dwindle. Land is a limited quantity, and the land that will grow wheat is absolutely dependent on difficult and capricious natural phenomena... I hope to point a way out of the colossal dilemma. It is the chemist who must come to the rescue of the threatened communities. It is through the laboratory that starvation may ultimately be turned into plenty... The fixation of atmo... 1 notes
notesCrookes predicts the failure of farming to support a growing population and calls on chemists to work on improving production.
17 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Everything is Open and Reproducible in Science
Any chemist reading this book can see, in some detail, how I have spent most of my mature life. They can become familiar with the quality of my mind and imagination. They can make judgements about my research abilities. They can tell how well I have documented my claims of experimental results. Any scientist can redo my experiments to see if they still work—and this has happened! I know of no other field in which contributions to world culture are so clearly on exhibit, so cumulative, and s...Folksonomies: reproduction reproducible
Folksonomies: reproduction reproducible
1 notes
notesCram describing his biography and how everything in his life is documented through science in such a way that it is completely knowable.
26 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The Chemistry of the Nucleus is Just the Metal for the Gears
For it is not cell nuclei, not even individual chromosomes, but certain parts of certain chromosomes from certain cells that must be isolated and collected in enormous quantities for analysis; that would be the precondition for placing the chemist in such a position as would allow him to analyse [the hereditary material] more minutely than [can] the morphologists ... For the morphology of the nucleus has reference at the very least to the gearing of the clock, but at best the chemistry of the... 1 notes
notesIt is the chromosomes that are the gears.
13 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Marcellin Berthelot Does Not Want Faith In Science
I do not want chemistry to degenerate into a religion; I do not want the chemist to believe in the existence of atoms as the Christian believes in the existence of Christ in the communion wafer. 1 notes
notesHe does not want chemistry to "degenerate into a religion."
28 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Carl Sagan Punished for Popularizing Science
Yet instead, Sagan was punished by the scientific community for his public endeavors. The persecution began as early as the 1960s, when Harvard University denied him tenure. Nobel laureate Harold Urey, a chemist who had previously served as one of Sagan's mentors, helped quash his chances with a nasty letter objecting to Sagan's budding media and outreach efforts. 
1 His outreach efforts were used against Sagan's pursuit of tenure at Harvard.
