visit classic papers
Selected Classic Papers
from the
History of Chemistry
The following papers from the history of chemistry are available as html
files. Many are seminal papers in their fields. Some are interesting
curiosities. Papers are arranged by subject below, or alphabetically.
Most of the entries reside either at the Classic Chemistry site at Le Moyne
College or on the historical papers section of John Park's ChemTeam site.
Links to classic papers outside the Classic Chemistry site are clearly
credited.
Last modified 10/18/99.
* Atomic hypothesis and discrete nature of matter
* Electricity, electrochemistry, and electrolyte solutions
* The electron and electronic structure of matter
* Elements: nature, number, and discovery
* Environmental chemistry
* Gases
* Periodic table and periodic law
* Radioactivity and the nucleus
* Thermodynamics
* Others
Atomic hypothesis and discrete nature of matter
* Amedeo Avogadro, Journal de Physique (1811). Includes "Avogadro's
hypothesis" that equal volumes of gas contain equal numbers of
molecules. (Link to a biographical sketch of Avogadro or a picture of
him.)
* Stanislao Cannizzaro (1858): This outline of a course in chemical
philosophy was instrumental in establishing the validity of Avogadro's
hypothesis and in setting atomic weights on a generally accepted basis.
This paper is at the ChemTeam site; it is currently in the form of an
extensive excerpt to be added to. Link to a biographical sketch.
* John Dalton: 1803 article on solubility of gases in water, including
Dalton's first investigation of the "relative weights of the ultimate
particles of bodies"
* John Dalton, excerpts from A New System of Chemistry (1808). Dalton's
atomic hypothesis as well as the erroneous hypothesis that the simplest
compound containing two elements contains atoms in a one-to-one ratio.
Includes a figure representing various simple and compound atoms. (Link
to a biographical sketch of Dalton or view his picture.)
* Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, read before the Philomathic Society (1808).
Reports results that combining ratios of many gases are ratios of small
integers. (Link to a biographical sketch of Gay-lussac or a picture of
him.)
* Karlsruhe Congress, 1860, account written by Charles-Adolfe Wurtz. The
first international chemistry congress debates the reality and
terminology of atoms and equivalents. (Link to a photo of Wurtz.)
* Lucretius, excerpts from a 17th-century English verse translation of
the Latin verse treatise De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things).
This selection speculates about Nature's bodies unseen and the Voyd.
This paper is at the ChemTeam site. Full text is available from the
Internet Classics Archive.
* Jean Charles de Marignac (1860): commentary on the paper by J. S. Stas
that probed and dismissed Prout's hypothesis.
* Jean Charles de Marignac and Marcellin Berthelot on atoms, equivalents,
and notation (1877): first an article by Marignac, then a response by
Berthelot, and another brief response by Marignac. They disagree over
notation, but both are skeptical about the existence of atoms. (Link to
a photo of Berthelot.)
* James Clerk Maxwell, reviews the physical atomic-molecular theory
(1873). (Link to a biographical sketch of Maxwell.)
* James Clerk Maxwell, on the kinetic molecular theory (including
Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of molecular speeds) and its support for
the molecular nature of matter (1875).
* Isaac Newton, from the end of his Opticks (1704). This passage, which
inspired Dalton's atomic hypothesis, also treats the nature of God and
induction in scientific method. Look here for more on Newton.
* Jean Perrin (1909): excerpt on Brownian movement and the reality of
molecules, including an esimation of Avogadro's number (and the coining
of that term). Link to a biographical sketch of Perrin.
* Joseph Louis Proust (1799): on definite proportions of copper
carbonate. (Link to a biographical paragraph on Proust or a picture of
him.)
* William Prout, noting that densities of gases are multiples of the
density of hydrogen, speculates that hydrogen may be the primary
material from which all other materials are made (1815-16). (Link to a
picture of Prout.)
* Jean S. Stas, on atomic weights of common elements (1860), deems
Prout's hypothesis an illusion. (See also companion paper by Marignac.)
* Thomas Thomson, "On the Daltonian Theory of Definite Proportions in
Chemical Combinations" (1813), an early amplification and defence of
Dalton's ideas. (View a picture of Thomson in the Edgar Fahs Smith
Collection.)
Electricity, Electrochemistry, and electrolyte solutions
* Svante Arrhenius: 1887 paper "On the Dissociation of Substances
Dissolved in Water" concerning electrolyte solutions. This paper is at
the ChemTeam site.
* Niels Bjerrum: 1909 paper on solutions of strong electrolytes. This
paper is at the ChemTeam site.
* J. N. Brønsted: 1923 paper on the concept of acids and bases. This
paper is at the ChemTeam site as is this photo.
* P. Debye and E. Hückel: 1923 paper on colligative properties of
electrolyte solutions. This paper is at the ChemTeam site, as is a
photo of Debye.
* Michael Faraday: excerpt of 1834 paper "On Electrical Decomposition",
which coined such common terms as electrode, anode, cathode, anion, and
cation. Faraday also announced the result that the "chemical
decomposing action of a current is constant for a constant quantity of
electricity". This paper is at the ChemTeam site. (Link to a biography
of Faraday by 19th-century physicist John Tyndall.)
* Hermann von Helmholtz: 1881 Faraday lecture on Faraday and electricity.
This paper is at the ChemTeam site. (Link to a biographical sketch of
Helmholtz.)
* Lord Kelvin (William Thomson): excerpt from 1902 paper speculating on
how discrete electrical charges ("electrions") within atoms might
underlie properties of those atoms. This paper is at the ChemTeam site.
* Wilhelm Friedrich Ostwald: 1888 paper describing dilution law. This
paper is at the ChemTeam site. (Link to a biographical sketch of
Ostwald.)
* Sören Sörensen: excerpt from 1909 paper which introduces the pH scale.
This paper is at the ChemTeam site. (View a picture of Sörensen at the
Edgar Fahs Smith Collection.)
* Alessandro Volta: on the battery, 1800, using discs of silver and zinc.
This paper is at the ChemTeam site as is this picture.
The Electron and Electronic Structure of Matter
* Johann Balmer: from 1885 paper noting numerical regularities in
wavelength of lines of the hydrogen spectrum. (Link to a biographical
sketch of Balmer.)
* Niels Bohr: 1913 excerpt of address on application of Planck's quantum
hypothesis to the spectrum of hydrogen. (Link to a biographical sketch
of Bohr.)
* Niels Bohr: his model of the atom, 1913. This paper is at the ChemTeam
site.
* Niels Bohr: 1921 excerpt on the "correspondence principle" of quantum
theory.
* Niels Bohr: 1921 paper on electron configurations and atomic structure.
This paper is at the ChemTeam site.
* Charles R. Bury: 1921 paper on the arrangement of electrons in atoms;
gives electron configurations for most of the periodic table. This
paper is at the ChemTeam site.
* W. Kossel: 1916 paper on relationship of bonding to periodic table and
atomic structure. (This paper is at the ChemTeam site.)
* Irving Langmuir: 1919 papers on the octet theory of chemical bonding.
These papers are at the ChemTeam site: 1 and 2 . (Link to a
biographical sketch of Langmuir.)
* G. N. Lewis: 1916 paper on the electron pair bond. This paper is at the
ChemTeam site, as is this picture. (Link to a biographical sketch of
Lewis.)
* Hantaro Nagaoka (1904): from Saturnian model of atomic structure (i.e.,
ring of particles around a central force). This paper is at the
ChemTeam site. (Link to a photo of Nagaoka.)
* Jean Perrin (1895): collects cathode rays, obtaining a negative charge.
(This paper is at the ChemTeam site.)
* Max Planck (1920): excerpt on the quantum of action from Nobel Prize
address. (Link to a biographical sketch.)
* J. J. Thomson: in time for the centennial of the discovery of the
electron, the 1897 paper which announced it to the scientific
community. Some of Thomson's contemporaries thought he must be kidding
when he claimed that cathode rays were electrically charged particles
with a mass-to-charge ratio 1000 times less than hydrogen ions. (Link
to a biographical sketch of Thomson or more information on the
discovery of the electron.)
* J. J. Thomson: 1899 paper further characterizing cathode ray corpuscles
by identifying them with thermoelectric, photoelectric, and
radioactivity phenomena and measuring their mass. This paper is at the
ChemTeam site.
* J. J. Thomson: excerpt from "On the Structure of the Atom ..." (1904),
elaborating the "plum pudding" model. This paper is at the ChemTeam
site.
* J. J. Thomson: excerpt from "On the Number of Corpuscles [i.e.,
electrons] in an Atom" (1906). The number is of the same order as the
atomic weight, not thousands of times that number. This paper is at the
ChemTeam site.
* J. J. Thomson: Nobel Prize in Physics Award Address, 1906, on the
characterization of the electron.
* [NEW!] J. J. Thomson: on the positive rays of electric discharge tubes
(1913), recognizing them as atoms and molecules stripped of one or more
electrons, describing essentially an early mass spectrometer, and
giving evidence for a heavy isotope of neon.
* Pieter Zeeman (1897): description of the magnetic splitting of spectral
lines now named after him; includes measurement of the charge-to-mass
ratio of what we now call the electron, independent of Thomson's
cathode-ray research. This paper is at the ChemTeam site. (Link to a
biographical sketch of Zeeman.)
Elements: Nature, Number, and Discovery
* Aristotle: On Generation and Corruption. This work is at the Internet
Classics Archive at MIT. The first five parts of Book II in particular
discuss elements, and in particular the system of four elements that
predates Aristotle.
* Robert Boyle: The Sceptical Chymist (1661), page images at University
of Pennsylvania. Boyle does not know how many elements there are or
what those elements may be; however, he knows that those who believe
the elements to be earth, air, fire, and water or mercury, sulfur, and
salt do so on an insufficient basis. See HTML excerpts at this site
(Classic Chemistry). (Link to a biographical sketch of Boyle or a
picture of him.)
* Pierre and Marie Curie: in its centennial year, the 1898 announcement
of a new radioactive element, polonium. (Link to a biographical sketch
of Curie.)
* Pierre and Marie Curie and G. Bémont: in time for its centennial, the
December 1898 announcement of a new strongly radioactive element,
radium.
* Humphry Davy: isolation of the alkali metals sodium and potassium
(1808). (This paper is at the ChemTeam site. Link to a biographical
sketch of Davy.)
* Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Thenard (1809): attempts to decompose
"oxygenated muriatic acid" (the gas which we know as chlorine) prove
difficult; the authors consider the possibility that it is an element,
but are not convinced. The paper contains some interesting
photochemistry as well. (Link to a biographical sketch of Gay-lussac or
Thenard or a picture of Gay-Lussac or Thenard.)
* Antoine Lavoisier, read before the Academie royale des sciences (1775).
Identification of the substance (oxygen) which combines with metals
upon calcination; this version includes paper as read in 1775 and as
published (revised) in 1778. (Link to a biography of Lavoisier.)
* Antoine Lavoisier (1783): maybe not the first to recognize that water
was a compound and not an element, but he certainly had a clearer
command of the phenomenon than his English phlogistonist
contemporaries, Cavendish and Watt.
* Antoine Lavoisier: Preface to Elements of Chemistry (1789); discusses
chemical nomenclature and the definition of element
* Antoine Lavoisier: Table of simple substances (elements) from Elements
of Chemistry (1789); includes his criterion for considering a substance
elementary
* Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran: 1877 excerpt on discovery of gallium.
This paper is at the ChemTeam site.
* Lars Nilson: two excerpts (1879, 1880) on the discovery of scandium.
This paper is at the ChemTeam site.
* Paracelsus: 16th century on alchemy and the metals. This paper is at
the ChemTeam site. (Link to biographical information on Paracelsus.)
* Joseph Priestley: a report describing the discovery of oxygen in terms
which continue to embrace the phlogiston theory; it is refreshing in
Priestley's frank admission of astonishment at the results he
describes. (Link to a biographical sketch of Priestley or a picture of
him.)
* Joseph Priestley: 1789 paper skeptical of the idea that water is the
exclusive result of burning hydrogen in oxygen.
* Lord Rayleigh, Royal Institution Proceedings (1895). An informal
lecture describing the discovery of argon by the author and Sir William
Ramsay.
* Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1774): excerpts from investigations of
"manganese", describing the gas which we know as chlorine. (View a
picture of Scheele or a drawing of his laboratory.)
* James Watt (1784): "Thoughts on the Constituent Parts of Water"
(excerpt). (Link to a biogarphy of Watt by Andrew Carnegie.)
* Clemens Winkler: two excerpts (1886) on the discovery of germanium.
This paper is at the ChemTeam site.
Environmental chemistry
* Svante Arrhenius, Philosophical Magazine (1896) excerpt. Not a paper
about acidity, electrolyte solutions, or the temperature dependence of
rate constants, but rather about the greenhouse effect including an
attempt to compute temperature effects in a world with twice as much
carbon dioxide. (Link to a biographical sketch of Arrhenius.)
* Paul Crutzen, "The influence of nitrogen oxides on the atmospheric
ozone content", by Paul J. Crutzen, Quarterly Journal of the Royal
Meteorological Society 96, 320-325 (1970). (Copyright ©1970. Posted
with the permission of the author, the Royal Meteorological Society,
and the Journal.) This paper proposes the major ozone-destruction
mechanism in the natural stratosphere. (Crutzen was one of three
recipients of the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Link to his home
page.)
* John Dalton. The author of chemistry's atomic theory studied the gases
of the atmosphere first (read 1802).
* Michael Faraday, 1855 letter to The Times on the foul condition of the
Thames. While not a formal scientific paper, this letter (at the
ChemTeam site) shows Faraday's powers of observation and plain
description turned to a topic which continues to engage scientists and
policymakers.
Gases
* Joseph Black (1756). A description of several reactions involving
carbonates and their release of "fixed air" (carbon dioxide). (View a
picture of Black in the Edgar Fahs Smith collection.)
* Robert Boyle on the relationship between pressure and volume of a gas
(Boyle's law), 1662. This excerpt and a facsimile are in a discussion
of Boyle's law at the ChemTeam site.
* Robert Boyle, (1672). Excerpts on the difficulty of getting anything to
burn in a vacuum.
* Henry Cavendish: determined that the "phlogisticated" part of the
atmosphere (i.e., nitrogen) could be converted to niter, all except
possibly a tiny fraction of less than 1% by volume (probably argon).
(Link to a biographical sketch of Cavendish.)
* John Dalton: on gases of the atmosphere, including their partial
pressures (read 1802).
* Humphry Davy: early paper on chlorine and its compounds (1811). This
paper is at the ChemTeam site.
* Michael Faraday (1823): on the liquefaction of chlorine. (This paper is
at the ChemTeam site.)
* Benjamin Franklin. This founding father was a scientist as well as a
statesman. In this letter he describes the effects of marsh gas to
Joseph Priestley. Link to more on Franklin.
* Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac: 1802 excerpt reports that all gases and vapors
expand the same amount with increased temperature.
* Jan Baptista van Helmont: three short excerpts from the border of
alchemy and chemistry, including coining of the term gas and an
experiment producing a tree from water. Link to biographical
information.
* Jan Ingenhousz, (1779). Describes the ability of plants to "improve"
the air in a process which requires light. This intriguing description
of photosynthesis didn't get everything right, however. Link to a
modern description of photosynthesis.
* Antoine Lavoisier (1775-1777): Excerpts from three papers on properties
of oxygen at the ChemTeam site. The first identifies oxygen as what
combines with metals to make calces (and is available in full here);
the second looks at respiration; the third examines burning of candles.
* Antoine Lavoisier, read before the Academie royale des sciences (1775).
Puts forth his theory of combustion and criticizes the phlogiston
theory.
* Johann Josef Loschmidt (1865): estimates the size of air molecules.
This paper is at the ChemTeam site.
* John Mayow: convincing argument that the air contains at least two
portions, one of which nurtures flame and enters the blood in
respiration (1674). Link to biographical information on Mayow.
* Lord Rayleigh, Nature (1892). Interesting because of its frank
admission of puzzlement and call for assistance in resolving anomalies
which would eventually lead to the discovery of argon.
* Joseph Priestley (1772): instructions and observations on making
carbonated water. (This item is available as facsimile images at the
ChemTeam site.)
* Jean Rey (1630): Essays on the cause of the increase in weight of tin
and lead upon calcination (excerpts). Rey says that the air is the
cause, foreshadowing the conclusion established by solid
experimentation nearly a century and a half later. Link to biographical
information on Rey.
* Evangelista Torricelli (1644). Letter describing the barometer
(includes an illustration). (Link to more information on Torricelli or
view his picture.)
* Jacobus van't Hoff: osmosis and the analogy between solutions and gases
(1887). This paper is at the ChemTeam site. Link to a biographical
sketch of van't Hoff.
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