Article ID: CBB001320273

Emil Wohlwill's “Entdeckung des Isomorphismus”: A Nineteenth-Century “Material Biography” of Crystallography (2013)

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Eilhard Mitscherlich's experimental work on isomorphism in the crystallisation of many inorganic compounds was regarded by Emil Wohlwill (1835 1912) as a milestone in the history of the atomic molecular theory. Despite his positivist account, Wohlwill's 1866 survey was primarily concerned with the material conditions that shaped Mitscherlich's theoretical assumptions on iso- and polymorphic crystallisation, narrowing the range of possible alternative models. Following an account of Wohlwill's exposition, and a discussion of his historiographic views, the paper shows how, from a historico-epistemological perspective, technical improvements in crystallography (an emerging branch of early-nineteenth-century mineralogy) were deeply entangled with a new interest in crystal formation as a cutting-edge research field of inorganic chemistry. This had fundamental implications for the development of atomic and molecular theory.

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Authors & Contributors
Ferraris, Giovanni
Pier Remigio Salvi
Santos, Gildo Magalhães
Mauskopf, Seymour H.
Spek, Trienke M. van der
Silvi, Bernard
Concepts
Chemistry
Atomic structure
Inorganic chemistry
Molecular structure
Crystallography
Textbooks
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
18th century
21st century
20th century, late
Places
Germany
France
England
United Kingdom
Spain
China
Institutions
Heidelberg Universität
University of Chicago
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