Chemistry The Impure Science

281 Pages·2008·12.28 MB·English

by  Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent

CHEMISTRY
THE IMPURE SCIENCE
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CHEMISTRY
THE IMPURE SCIENCE
Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent
Universite Paris X, France
Jonathan Simon
Universite Lyon 7, France
Imperial College Press
Published by
Imperial College Press
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
CHEMISTRY — THE IMPURE SCIENCE
Copyright © 2008 by Imperial College Press
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to
photocopy is not required from the publisher.
ISBN-13978-1-84816-225-9
ISBN-101-84816-225-1
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Email: [email protected]
Printed in Singapore.
ChingTing - Chemistry - The Impure.pmd 1 12/12/2008, 6:28 PM
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To Larry Holmes
In Memoriam
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Both authors would like to start by thanking each other for the many fruit-
ful intellectual exchanges both prior to the present project and during the
preparation of Chemistry, The Impure Science.
The authors would like to thank Phillippe Pignarre, editor of the series
Les empecheurs de penser en ronde, and the publisher Seuil, for granting
permission to use Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent’s book, Faut-il avoir peur
de la chimie? (Paris, Seuil, 2005), which served as the inspiration for the
present work.
Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent would like to acknowledge her debt to
Isabelle Stengers for her continuous inspiration and intellectual exigency.
She is also grateful to all the participants in her annual seminars in the
history of chemistry at the philosophy department of the University of
Paris X — Nanterre. The reflections and expertise brought together in
these seminars have significantly contributed to the present work. This
book has also benefited from her interviews with a number of chemists,
in particular Hervé Arribart, Jacques Livage, Michel Pouchard, and
George Whitesides as well as collaborations with colleagues, notably
William Newman and Arne Hessenbruch, who have shared her interest
in impure sciences.
Jonathan Simon gratefully thanks Ted McGuire and Peter Machamer,
who “scrubbed his flanks” at the University of Pittsburgh. He also owes a
great debt to Fritz Ringer, whose premature death deprived the academic
world of a model of intellectual rigour. Nor will he soon forget his fellow
students in Pittsburgh, in particular Ofer Gal, Andrea Woody, Silvia
Castro, William Sutherland, Rachel Ankeny, Heather Douglas, and
Michel Janssen. Although they probably would not want to be reminded
of it, John Worrall, John Earman, John Norton, and Clark Glymour also
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viii Chemistry — The Impure Science
contributed to shaping Jonathan Simon’s philosophical perspective on sci-
ence. Along the long road to secure employment, he has received support
and encouragement from Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Delphine Gardey, Nic
Rasmussen, Jean-Paul Gaudillière, Volker Hess, Patricia Caillé, Axel
Hüntelmann, John Ceccatti, and Christian Bonah. Last, but not least, a
debt is due to Jessie, Owen, Alan, and Patricia for their invaluable assis-
tance in the preparation of the text.
The authors are pleased to include a number of images in the volume
that serve as more than incidental illustrations. In assembling these images,
we were helped by the staff of the Chemical Heritage Foundation in
Philadelphia, Eva Wittig at Evonik Industries, Marta Lourenço at the
Museum of Science of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, Michael Green
and Frank Norman at the National Institute for Medical Research in
England, as well as staff at the Bibliothèque Nationale Universitaire de
Strasbourg and the Service Commun de la Documentation at the
Université de Strasbourg. Thanks also to Anne Denuziere at the School of
Pharmacy of the Université de Lyon for the information on the analysis of
ions. Finally, the authors would also like to thank the editorial team at
Imperial College Press for helping to produce a high-quality book in such
a short time.
Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent & Jonathan Simon
May 2008.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
Chapter 1 Introduction: Chemistry and Its Discontents 1
The Philosophy of Chemistry 2
The Image of Chemistry 4
The Goals of the Book 5
The Structure of the Book 6
Chapter 2 Chemistry and Pollution 11
Chemical versus Natural 11
Chemistry in Literature 15
Silent Spring 17
“Better Things for Better 21
Living … Through Chemistry”
Abundance and Waste 27
Courting Disaster 29
Artificial or Natural? 30
Chapter 3 The Damnation of the Alchemist 33
Magicians or Charlatans 33
In Defense of Artifice 37
Faustian Ambitions 39
From Extracts to Ersatz 42
Pure and Applied Chemistry 45
Artefacts as Hybrids of Nature and Society 46
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