Book ID: CBB001252619

Avogadro 1811: essai d'une manière de déterminer les masses relatives des molécules élémentaires des corps: Biblioteca civica di Torino, Ms. 462 (2011)

unapi

Ciardi, Marco (Author)


Giunti


Publication Date: 2011
Physical Details: 139 pp.; ill.; bibl.
Language: French

In 1811 the physicist Amedeo Avogadro Turin proposed for the first time to the scientific community the hypothesis that, later, would become one of the fundamental laws of modern chemistry, "in the same conditions of temperature and pressure, equal volumes of different gases contain an identical number of particles. " In this generalization Avogadro would forever linked his name and his universal fame: The hypothesis was exposed nell'Essai d'une manière de déterminer les masses relatives des molécules élémentaires des corps, et les proportions selon lesquelles elles entrent dans ces combinaisons , published in July of 1811 on the Parisian magazine "Journal de Physique ', a text which is one of the classics of the history of science. To mark the bicentenary of the hypothesis of Avogadro, the present volume publishes the critical edition dell'Essai, by comparing the printed edition and the manuscript version of the essay, contained in the diaries of scientist's laboratory in Turin preserved at the Library Civica di Torino, accompanied by two essays designed to frame the historical genesis and fortune of the work of Avogadro. The first four papers published by Amedeo Avogadro appeared in the "Journal de Physique" in Paris between 1806 and 1811. In the same period Avogadro gave the Academy of Sciences of Turin also four memories that were never published. The existence of two early writings of Avogadro, preserved in the Archives of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, where they are recorded in the old catalog of the manuscripts (Avogadro 1803, 1804), it was known for some time, having been reported since the first obituaries dedicated to the scientist in Turin. Despite this, these manuscripts do not have, for a long time, attracted the attention of historians, nor were placed in relation to the formulation of the hypothesis of molecular 1811. In 1991, on the occasion of the IV National Congress of History and Fundamentals of Chemistry I presented the first results of my investigations on the genesis of the hypothesis of Avogadro, and then developed in many subsequent works (see eg Ciardi 1995, 2001a, 2001b). In particular, I tried to prove the existence of a close link between the first scientific work of Avogadro and his most famous Essai. In 1992 I discovered two new manuscripts delivered by Avogadro Academy, which we did not know existed: Essai sur le pouvoir de calculus refringent de quelques substances and De la distribution de l'inlet sur la surface des corps conducteurs (Avogadro 1808c; 1810b). The analysis of these manuscripts has made it possible not only to re-write the bibliography of the works of Avogadro, but also to provide new light on the whole complex of his work. The catalogs of the Historical Archive of the Academy did not provide any indication of the presence of additional youth work delivered by the institution Avogadro Turin. However, thanks to a careful examination of the minutes of the academic sessions, I was able to verify their existence. Next, I checked the cards Avogadro kept at the Library of Turin, identifying the original draft of the works presented at the Academy. Continuing research in the archives of the Academy, in 1998 I tracked down one of the manuscripts are missing, the Essai sur le pouvoir de calculus refringent de quelques substances (Avogadro 2006). To date, the copy of the fourth manuscript, De la distribution de l'inlet sur la surface des corps conducteurs, has not yet emerged from the archives of the Academy. Only a systematic classification of the material work of the Academy will allow us to track manuscript, or to verify with certainty his disappearance. The first report of the De la distribution de l'inlet is naturally present within the impressive collection of manuscripts of Avogadro kept at the Library of Turin.

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Reviewed By

Review Carneiro, Ana (2013) Review of "Avogadro 1811: essai d'une manière de déterminer les masses relatives des molécules élémentaires des corps: Biblioteca civica di Torino, Ms. 462". Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (pp. 81-82). unapi

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Authors & Contributors
Boeck, Gisela
Russo, Maria Luisa
Claudia Lemme
Idrofano, Silvia
Frank, Martin
Brown, Todd A.
Concepts
Chemistry
Atomic weights
Libraries and archives
Manuscripts
Critical editions
Mathematics
Time Periods
19th century
Medieval
20th century
Renaissance
20th century, early
18th century
Places
Italy
Turin (Italy)
England
Bologna (Italy)
Florence (Italy)
Germany
Institutions
Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio (Bologna, Italy)
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