A case study of the Clausius-Williamson hypothesis sheds light on the development of the physical sciences during the nineteenth century. In the 1850s, Rudolf Clausius and Alexander William Williamson independently developed similar hypotheses at a time when physics and chemistry were beginning to be considered independent endeavors. Some thirty years later, after specialization took root, their names were associated; the two hypotheses became the hypothesis of Clausius-Williamson . How and why were these distinct investigations conducted in the 1850s unified in the 1880s? The current historiography addresses the Clausius-Williamson hypothesis as it is featured in subsequent interpretations by Svante Arrhenius, but does not thoroughly analyze the published writings of Clausius and Williamson themselves. This paper reappraises Clausius’s and Williamson’s works in their original context and analyzes how their hypotheses came to be associated. This case study emphasizes how the relationship between physics and chemistry evolved in the nineteenth century. More specifically, it underscores the limited communication between these disciplines in the 1850s and the rise of interdisciplinarity in the 1880s, which led to the creation of a new field: physical chemistry. From the study of the emergence and success of the theory of ionic dissociation and physical chemistry, I show that referring to the authoritative figures of Clausius and Williamson legitimized and valorized investigations at the borderlands of physics and chemistry in a context of increased specialization.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Bordoni, Stafano;
(2013)
Routes Towards an Abstract Thermodynamics in the Late Nineteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB001320791/)
Article
Ernst Kenndler;
(2022)
Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) and its Basic Principles in Historical Retrospect. Part 3. 1840s –1900ca. The First CE of Ions in 1861. Transference Numbers, Migration Velocity, Conductivity, Mobility.
(/isis/citation/CBB045320518/)
Article
Raffaele Pisano;
Emilio Marco Pellegrino;
Abdelkader Anakkar;
Maxime Nagels;
(2021)
Conceptual polymorphism of entropy into the history: extensions of the second law of thermodynamics towards statistical physics and chemistry during nineteenth–twentieth centuries
(/isis/citation/CBB986765530/)
Book
Takaaki Inuzuka;
(2021)
Alexander Williamson: A Victorian Chemist and the Making of Modern Japan
(/isis/citation/CBB383766787/)
Book
Takaaki Inuzuka;
(2021)
Alexander Williamson: A Victorian chemist and the making of modern Japan
(/isis/citation/CBB829562816/)
Article
Kikuchi, Yoshiyuki;
(2009)
Samurai Chemists, Charles Graham and Alexander William Williamson at University College London, 1863--1872
(/isis/citation/CBB000952898/)
Book
Yagi, Eri;
Clausius, Rudolf Julius Emmanuel;
(2002)
A historical approach to entropy: Collected papers of Eri Yagi and her coworkers at the occasion of her retirement
(/isis/citation/CBB000301484/)
Chapter
Viard, Jérôme;
(2006)
L'élaboration de la signification physique de l'entropie, les contributions de Carnot, Clausius, Boltzmann
(/isis/citation/CBB001024286/)
Chapter
Vermeer, Leonieke;
(2010)
Coping with Entropy: Utopian Reactions to the Second Law of the Thermodynamics (1860--1920)
(/isis/citation/CBB001021561/)
Chapter
Emilio Marco Pellegrino;
Elena Ghibaudi;
(2016)
Clausius’ disgregation and other disappeared thermodynamic quantities: conceptual relics or meaningful epistemic junctions?
(/isis/citation/CBB669244059/)
Chapter
Luigi Cerruti;
Emilio Marco Pellegrino;
Elena Ghibaudi;
(2016)
At the origins of nanotechnology. Discoveries and tough competition in the field of the carbon nanotubes
(/isis/citation/CBB766130737/)
Article
Omar Larentis;
Chiara Tesi;
Marta Licata;
Roberta Fusco;
Ilaria Gorini;
Chiara Rossetti;
Enrica Tonina;
(2020)
Body petrification in Italy. Another recipe of the 19th century revealed.
(/isis/citation/CBB337753560/)
Chapter
Francesco Ghelli;
(2003)
Dalla 'morte termica' al 'rumore bianco'. Lettartura e entropia tra termodinamica, teoria dell'informazione e moderna apocalisse
(/isis/citation/CBB096872924/)
Book
Valentina Sordoni;
(2018)
Il giovane Leopardi, la chimica e la storia naturale
(/isis/citation/CBB145594562/)
Thesis
Serenity Sutherland;
(2017)
Discovering Science for Women: The Life of Ellen Swallow Richards, 1842-1911
(/isis/citation/CBB960974176/)
Book
Eric R. Scerri;
Elena Ghibaudi;
(2020)
What Is A Chemical Element? A Collection of Essays by Chemists, Philosophers, Historians, and Educators
(/isis/citation/CBB142422947/)
Chapter
Carlo Bernardini;
(2003)
L'universo in una formula: scienza o poesia?
(/isis/citation/CBB215506671/)
Chapter
Hawkins, Stephanie L.;
(2014)
William James and the “Theatre” of Consciousness
(/isis/citation/CBB001214146/)
Article
Helge Kragh;
(2015)
Mathematics and Physics: The Idea of a Pre-Established Harmony
(/isis/citation/CBB717200396/)
Article
Paul, E. Robert.;
(1978)
Alexander W. Williamson on the atomic theory: A study of 19th-century British atomism
(/isis/citation/CBB000014229/)
Be the first to comment!