HPSC C313: Topics in the History of the Physical Sciences
Dr Hasok Chang / Dept of Science & Technology Studies / UCL
Projects available for 2004-05 (term 2)
Description of each project
Chlorine bleaching
Almost as soon as chlorine was discovered in 1774, its power to destroy colours
was noticed, and scientists quickly proposed practical applications. One might
think that this discovery would have led straightforwardly to the development
of bleaching techniques, especially given that at this time of the Industrial
Revolution the burgeoning textile industry created a great demand for simple
and economical bleaching methods. But actually the establishment of chlorine
bleaching was a long and complicated process. Why? Olympia Brown started off
this project in 2000-01, quickly identifying two main geographical strands of
the story (British and French), which were investigated further by Jacob Soper
and Saber Farooqi (2002-03) respectively. Manchi Chung (2003-04) then highlighted
the need to go beyond the linear model and technological determinism in order
to give a good analysis of this complex episode. Manchi's line of thought needs
to be pursued more thoroughly, and there is also still a great deal of factual
information to be unearthed about the history. This project needs someone with
an interest in the history of technology, economic history, science and technology
policy, or the sociology of science and technology. Some competence in chemistry
will be helpful, but not required. If you can read French, that would be useful
for pursuing the French side of the story further.
Chlorine disinfection
Chlorine's power to arrest the spread of contagious diseases was also noted
early on. Similarly with bleaching, however, the use of chlorine and chlorine
compounds as disinfectants took a surprisingly long time to be widely accepted.
Elinor Mathieson (2000-01) started this project and charted the history of the
early attempts in chlorine disinfection. Fiona Scott-Kerr (2003-04) followed
the story well into the 19th century, and discovered a similar pattern of promising
starts fizzling out time and again. Fiona has advanced the thesis that disinfection
techniques were only established after the germ theory of disease was accepted,
allowing good explanations of why chlorine worked to stop the spread of infections.
So we have made very good progress on this project, but still there is more
work to be done in tracing the development of the theories of disease, as well
as discovering further details about the failed attempts at chlorine isinfection.
This project is ideal for someone with interest and background in the history
of medicine. Ability to read French or German would be helpful, but is by no
means required.
The elementary nature of chlorine
When chlorine was discovered in 1774, it was not considered an element. The
Swedish chemist Karl Wilhelm Scheele, its discoverer, was a believer in phlogiston
theory, and he thought he had made chlorine by taking phlogiston away from hydrochloric
acid; the latter was known as "muriatic acid" at the time, so Scheele
called chlorine "dephlogisticated muriatic acid". When Lavoisier's
oxygen theory replaced the phlogiston theory, chemists re-conceptualised chlorine
as "oxygenated muriatic acid", definitely a compound. The story up
to that point was told excellently by Ruth Ashbee in 2003-04, but the next phase
in chlorine's life needs more investigation.
Mårten Åkesson (2000-01) very nicely started off the research on
how chlorine became an element. At the centre of this development was the overthrow
of Lavoisier's theory that all acids contained oxygen, so Mårten traced
and assessed the arguments over the theory of acids. We need to bring this story
to a conclusion, up to Humphry Davy's work, which was crucial in the rejection
of Lavoisier's theory of acids. This project requires someone who is willing
to delve deeply into the primary sources, with some ability in chemistry. Skills
in French or German would be helpful. Some knowledge of the philosophy of science
may also be quite useful.
Prout's hypothesis
Chlorine found itself at the centre of yet another controversy in the 19th century.
The English physician William Prout in 1815 proposed the hypothesis that the
atomic weights of all elements were integer multiples of hydrogen's weight.
Prout's hypothesis attracted some attention at the time, and modern scientists
see it as an anticipation of the discrete structure of the atomic nucleus. But
throughout the 19th century exceptions to Prout's hypotheses were noted and
debated; chlorine was a salient anomaly, its atomic weight stubbornly converging
on 35.5. Jonathan Nendick and Dominic Scrancher started this project in 2003-04,
and despite their excellent work much remains to be done. Jonathan surveyed
the history and identified two distinct phases of debates, each of which ended
inconclusively. How can we best make sense of this curious history? Dominic
examined a famous treatment of this case by Imre Lakatos, who used it as an
example illustrating his ideas about scientific research programmes; he reached
a strong conclusion showing the inadequacies of the Lakatosian history. Something
identified in Jonathan's history may point to a better account: each phase of
the debate was dominated by a distinct research school, led by Thomas Thomson
in Glasgow in the first case and by Jean-Baptiste Dumas in Paris in the second
case. Someone needs to follow up on this idea, making use of the existing historiographical
literature on research schools; that task will suit someone with historiographical
interests and aptitude. We also need to find out more about the history itself,
which will require working with both primary and secondary sources; for this
aspect of the work, some familiarity with chemistry is desired, and knowledge
of French will be helpful though not required.
The British entry into chemical warfare
The German chlorine attack on Allied forces in April 1915 opened the era of
large-scale chemical warfare. David Bulley and Nick Coppeard in 2000-01 ably
started the work on the use of chlorine in the First World War. The British
political and military leaders had a considerable dilemma in deciding how to
react to the German initiative, as they had a distaste for this new method of
warfare for many reasons, not least of all the desire to honour the Hague Convention.
James Cambrook (2003-04) made a careful consideration of the various factors
affecting the British deliberations, which resulted in the decision to respond
in kind with chlorine in the first instance. There are further investigations
to make, particularly about the political process, and also about how the political
and the military leaders interacted with each other. It may also be interesting
to follow up on later decisions as chemical warfare escalated during the course
of the war, and in that connection we might note Nick Coppeard's curious observation
that it was actually Britain that first broke the letter of the Hague Convention.
This project is suitable for someone with interests in military history or British
politics.
The international control of chemical weapons
The use of chlorine gas and other toxic chemicals in the First World War led
to widespread condemnation of chemical warfare, leading to its prohibition in
the Geneva Protocol of 1925. Catherine Jefferson (2003-04) found that the Geneva
Protocol was not simply an expression of the public condemnation of chemical
warfare. Through the analysis of two British newspapers of the time among other
sources, she has shown that public opinion on this matter at the end of the
First World War was in fact ambivalent and generally ill-informed. Catherine's
considered view is that the main motive force behind the Geneva Protocol was
the League of Nations, with its own concern about restoring international order
by quasi-legal agreements. This project could be further developed in a few
different directions: learning more about the exact course of the debates and
negotiations that resulted in the Geneva Protocol; reaching a better understanding
of the workings and motivations of the League of Nations; carrying on with more
newspaper analysis and other studies of public opinion at the time. This project
is suitable for someone with interests in political history, international relations,
arms control, or media research.
Physiologists in the First World War
An application of new technology in warfare requires the participation of scientists
and engineers. The First World War has been dubbed the "chemists' war",
but the introduction of chemical warfare also resulted in the involvement of
physiologists, for studying the effect of the various toxic chemicals on the
human body and designing protection and treatment methods. Building broadly
on previous work in the course, Daisy O'Reilly-Weinstock (2003-04) investigated
the effect of this wartime involvement on the community of physiologists, and
concluded that it brought physiology out from its previous isolation into political
and scientific prominence. This is a very promising start, which should be followed
up in a few different directions: a thorough survey of secondary sources should
be made for more leads; more evidence should be found to support Daisy's thesis;
more background knowledge should be gathered about the history of physiology
(and its relation to clinical medicine). This project requires someone with
interest in institutional history or the history of medicine who can work creatively
in locating and synthesising relavant information from a variety of sources.