A Woman's Life Alongside Chemistry:The Memoirs of Theresa Kopp Baumann.

As her second and third names suggest, Theresa Kopp Baumann (1856-1944) was the daughter and subsequently the wife of eminent German academic chemists. Her substantial unpublished autobiography, written ca. 1910 and presented here in English translation in an edited and considerably abridged form, provides unique insight from a privileged female perspective into the socio-cultural aspects of German academic science in its period of greatest international reputation and influence.

Lothar Meyer's Pathway to Periodicity.

Without dwelling on issues of priority regarding the discovery of the periodic system of the elements, this study offers a connected narrative regarding Lothar Meyer's investigative pathway from the spring and summer of 1856 until the end of 1869, in his gradually deepening understanding of periodic relationships among the elements. Dmitrii Mendeleev's route to periodicity has been the subject of extensive investigation and debate; by contrast, there is nothing in the literature that takes a similarly detailed look at Lothar Meyer's personal pathway to the periodic system. This study strives toward a deeper understanding of the history of the discovery of the archetypical symbol of chemistry as a whole, the periodic table; it concludes by offering a wider object lesson.

Women and Chemistry in Regency England: New Light on the Marcet Circle.

Jane Marcet's Conversations on Chemistry (first edition, 1806) was possibly the best-selling English-language chemistry book of the first half of the nineteenth century. Recent scholarship has explored the degree to which her husband assisted in the writing of the book, without diminishing the high merits of the author. Previously unpublished correspondence, some of which appears here for the first time, casts new light on the social and professional circle of Jane and Alexander Marcet, including its influence on Jane's book.

It began with a daydream: the 150th anniversary of the Kekulé benzene structure.

In January 1865, August Kekulé published his theory of the structure of benzene, which he later reported had come to him in a daydream about a snake biting its tail. Although other theories had been postulated before 1865, Kekulé was the first to identify the correct structure. Kekulé's theory resulted in a clear understanding of aromatic compounds and thus had a major impact on the development of chemical science and industry.

Origins and spread of the "Giessen Model" in university science.

In seeking to understand the rise of Justus Liebig's model for research and teaching, three interrelated and overlapping factors intrinsic to his specialty of organic chemistry have not been sufficiently brought into the explanatory field: the discovery of isomers, the novel practice of using "paper tools," and the "Kaliapparat" method of organic analysis. The existence of these three interacting factors, all of which emerged suddenly and essentially simultaneously around 1830, led to an explosive expansion in the new field of organic chemistry. Moreover, they made it a uniquely positioned context within which to create in Germany the practices that eventually were associated with all modern research universities.