The Periodic System: The (Multiple) Values of an Icon

doi:10.1515/ci-2021-0220

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The Periodic System: The (Multiple) Values of an Icon

Published/Copyright: April 1, 2021

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From the journal Chemistry International Volume 43 Issue 2

Centaurus Special Issue, Volume 61, Issue 4, November 2019

First published online 25 May 2020

reviewed by Annette Lykknes and Brigitte Van Tiggelen, Guest editors of the special issue

2019 was named the International Year of the Periodic Table, and rightly so. The periodic system is indeed an icon of science, with an exceptional level of usage around the world, as both a source of information and a pedagogical tool, and a recognizable imprint in popular culture, beyond the scientific community. Since 1869 when Dmitri I. Mendeleev proposed his first version, the periodic system has endured and developed, undergoing several additions, adjustments, revisions, and reinterpretations. Although many publications on the history and philosophy of the system have appeared over the years, few of them deal with its underlying values aside from predictability, which is usually presented as the main reason for its acceptance. In fact, the scientific community took several decades to endorse the periodic system and use it as the embodiment of chemical knowledge. In the special issue of Centaurus—An international English language journal of the history of science and its cultural aspects (volume 61- Issue 4) published earlier this year, scholars from different disciplines use the history of the periodic system to discuss what the system signifies and has signified for scientists and teachers, as well as for philosophers and historians. Two contributions by Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent and Helge Kragh underline how the evolving concept of chemical elements are tightly linked to the elaboration and expansion of the periodic system from Mendeleev’s conceptual distinction between “element” and “simple substance” to the status and inclusion of manufactured superheavy nuclei in the process of constructing and expanding the periodic system.

Brigitte Van Tiggelen and Annette Lykknes stress the resilience of the periodic system, by contrasting different contemporary interpretations after radioactivity and the discovery of the neutron. Ann Robinson describes the tensions arising in selecting “the best” table for teaching purpose in the US scientific community, while Bettina Bock von Wülfingen analyzes the inclusion of colors and their value as added layers of denotation and understanding. Karoliina Pulkkinen shows how mathematical expressions of periodicity did not serve Mendeleev’s intention despite his claim that periodicity was a natural law. Chris Campbell explores Charles Sanders Peirce’s concept of icons applied to periodic tables.

By presenting different layers of underlying values as they appear in the eyes of the users, these contributions aim to provide a richer understanding of the periodic system, past and present, and the features that explain its endurance over the last 150 years, and in the many years to come.

Special issue content

Annette Lykknes and Brigitte Van Tiggelen, ‘The periodic system: The (multiple) values of an icon’
Bernadette Bensaude, Vincent, ‘Reconceptualizing chemical elements through the construction of the periodic system’
Chris Campbell, ‘The periodic table as an icon: A perspective from the philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce’
Helge Kragh, ‘The periodic system and the idea of a chemical element: From Mendeleev to superheavy elements’
Brigitte Van Tiggelen and Annette Lykknes, ‘A tale of resilience: The periodic table after radioactivity and the discovery of the neutron’
Ann E. Robinson, ‘Chemical pedagogy and the periodic system’
Bettina Bock von Wülfingen, ‘The periodic tableau: Form and colours in the first 100 years’
Karoliina Pulkkinen, ‘Values and periodicity: Mendeleev’s reception of the equations of Mills, Chicherin, and Vincent’

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/16000498/2019/61/4

Online erschienen: 2021-04-01

Erschienen im Druck: 2021-04-01

©2021 IUPAC & De Gruyter. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For more information, please visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ci-2021-0220