Monthly Archives: January 2023

History Lab Plus 2023 Event for PhDs: Community and Collaboration

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Are you in the latter stages of your PhD or post PhD?

Does/did that PhD involve historical research?

Then scroll no further!

To mark the relaunch of History Lab Plus you are warmly invited to attend History Lab Plus 2023: Community and Collaboration on 13 January 2023.

History Lab Plus is a national network, affiliated with the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), that supports early-career historians working within and outside of academia. History Lab Plus’s committee works with the IHR, learned societies, academics, and professionals across multiple sectors to provide members with tailored support including training and networking opportunities, resources, and a programme of events showcasing recent historical research and projects.

At ‘Community and Collaboration’, you will…

  • discover more about History Lab Plus and what we have lined up for our members in 2023
  • hear about early-career researchers’ ongoing research and projects
  • receive tips and advice about career development (including publishing and fostering external partnerships)
  • meet with and discuss the opportunities and hurdles faced by fellow early-career historians
  • shape the future of History Lab Plus

Speakers include: Claire Langhamer (Director of IHR), Catherine Clarke (Director of Centre for the History of People, Place and Community, IHR), Clare Stainthorp (Leverhulme Early-Career Fellow, Queen Mary), Elizabeth Howard (Commissioning Editor, Peter Lang), and members of the History Lab Plus Committee.

To find out more and book your place visit History Lab Plus 2023: Community and Collaboration information and booking form to reserve your place today!

To become a member of History Lab Plus, simply drop Sarah Holland (sarah.holland@nottingham.ac.uk) an email. To find out more, follow us on Twitter @historylabplus.

Online Seminar January 19th: A History of the Periodic Table

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the next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Professor Eric Scerri (UCLA) who will present  

A Brief Philosophical History of the Periodic Table 

This will be live on Thursday, 19 January 2023, beginning at 5.00pm GMT (6.00pm CET, 12noon ET, 9.00am PT). The format will be a talk of 20-30 minutes, followed by a moderated discussion of half an hour.  


As with recent seminars the Zoom link can be freely accessed by anyone, member of SHAC or not, via the following Eventbrite link: 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shac-online-seminar-professor-eric-scerri-tickets-499088044777

Alternatively, the seminar can be accessed live on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Fjln_vAqvSQ


Most previous on-line seminars can be found on the SHAC YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/SocietyforHistoryofAlchemyandChemistry

 

A Brief Philosophical History of the Periodic Table 

Eric Scerri

My talk will begin with a brief history of the origins of the periodic table, starting with the contributions of Dalton, Döbereiner and others. I will proceed to the independent discovery of the periodic table by as many as six individuals, culminating with Mendeleev’s table just over 150 years ago. The emphasis will be on philosophical aspects of these developments such as the debate concerning the relative merits of predictions and accommodations.  

I will discuss the challenges that the periodic table faced, such as the existence of pair reversals and the discovery of the noble gases. Next came several discoveries in physics, including X-rays, radioactivity and the electron, all of which had a profound effect on the understanding of the periodic table. Research in atomic structure beginning at the turn of the 20th century prompted some physicists such as J.J. Thomson and Niels Bohr to begin to seek a fundamental explanation for the periodic table in terms of electronic structure.  

The later developed quantum mechanics of Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Pauli and others led to a more rigorous explanation, although some open questions remain up to present times. For example, there is yet no fundamental explanation for the empirical rule that the occupation of atomic orbitals proceeds via the simple n + 1 rule.  

In addition, relativistic effects are being increasingly considered in attempts to understand the heavier elements in particular. Finally, several other remaining open questions will be mentioned, such as the membership of group 3 of the periodic table, alternative representations such as the 32-column format, the left-step periodic table and whether there may exist an ‘optimal form’ of the periodic table.