Article ID: CBB259967749

Chemistry and Industry: A Tale of Two Moving Targets (2018)

unapi

There are many histories of the chemical industry but very few systematic studies that portray the changing relations between chemistry and industry. This essay tackles the issue by looking to evolving practices and to changes in semantics in particular. On the practical level, both chemistry and industry changed greatly between about 1750 and 1950, which led to different types of interactions over the course of time. Special attention is paid to the emergence and subsequent history of the concept of the “Second Industrial Revolution” (ca. 1870–1900). It is argued—and illustrated by several examples—that historians using that concept have tended to underestimate the role of chemistry in industry before about 1870 and have overestimated its role after that date. The rhetorical repertoires of historical actors had great influence on the ways historians later perceived the period of the Second Industrial Revolution. Moreover, the meanings of the key words that we use to describe historical processes have changed considerably over time. The meanings of the terms “chemistry” and “industry” both changed, as did those of terms such as “technology,” “art,” “science,” “philosophy,” and “knowledge.” This happened most fundamentally between about 1750 and 1850, a period called a Sattelzeit (transition period) by the German historian Reinhart Koselleck for that very reason. Awareness of those semantic changes is crucial for a better understanding of the changing relationships between chemistry and industry, especially for the period before about 1850.

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Article Carsten Reinhardt (2018) Introduction: What’s in a Name? Chemistry as a Nonclassical Approach to the World. Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 559-564). unapi

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Authors & Contributors
Balasubramanian, Narayanaganesh
Anja Timmermann
Gasparetto, Michele
Wallace, Harold Duane
Steward, Katherine F.
Sartori, Sergio
Concepts
Chemical industry
Chemistry
Industry
Environmental pollution
Technology
Environment
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
18th century
21st century
17th century
16th century
Places
France
Great Britain
Belfast, Ireland
Central America
Scotland
Sweden
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