Brown Bag Lecture: “Early Periodic Tables of the Elements: Classification, Visualization, and the Periodic Law”
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Date:
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February 5, 2013
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Time:
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12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
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Location:
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CHF
315 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106 |
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Open to the Public |
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Fee:
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Free
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RSVP Online:
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No Registration Required
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A talk by Ann Robinson
The periodic table of the elements is a visual representation of the periodic law, the classification scheme that lies at the heart of chemistry. The table we are all familiar with did not assume its shape until the early to mid-20th century. In the decade before the 1869 discovery of the periodic law by the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev and in the decades following, scientists created (and are still creating) their own visual representations of the periodic law. This talk will look at some of these early tables, including Mendeleev’s own, exploring why different forms were thought to be better than others for visually representing the classification of the elements.
Ann Robinson is a former academic librarian and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has a B.A. in history from the University of California, San Diego; an M.L.I.S. from San Jose State University; and an A.L.M. in the history of science from Harvard University’s Extension School. She is writing a dissertation currently titled “Creating a Symbol of Science: The Standard Periodic Table of the Elements” that explores chemical pedagogy, visualization and graphic representation, classification and organization, and the role of national and international scientific organizations in relation to the periodic table of the elements.
About Brown Bag Lectures
Brown Bag Lectures (BBLs) are a series of weekly informal talks on the history of chemistry or related subjects, including the history and social studies of science, technology, and medicine. Based on original research (sometimes still in progress), these talks are given by local scholars for an audience of CHF staff and fellows and interested members of the public.
For more information, please call 215.873.8289 or e-mail bbl@chemheritage.org.
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