这个杀手不太冷——α-溶血素在基因测序技术中的应用

这是一个虚拟的科幻故事,主要讲述了虚构人物K教授在机缘巧合之下发现金黄色葡萄球菌α-溶血素能够被用作纳米孔的故事。K教授在思考基因测序方法的时候,因梦到金黄色葡萄球菌(又称金葡菌)攻击红细胞而受到启发,最后思考出了纳米孔测序的方法。     

The periodic table: revelation by quest rather than by revolution

The concept of major scientific advances occurring as a short-term ‘revolutionary’ change in thinking interspersed by long periods of so-called ‘normal’ science seems to be losing ground to more ecological models, which are more inimical of the twists and turns of life. From this idea it is a short step to charting science’s progress against stages used in fictional storytelling, which after all is life-based. This paper explores the development of the periodic table in terms of the achievement of a fictional ‘quest’, and finds the stages of such a story are well represented. While Mendeleev or perhaps Meyer might be considered by some to be the hero of the quest, its first stage—the call—is represented by the Karlsruhe conference in 1860, with an international cast of ‘companions’ and ‘helpers’ who contributed to the Table’s early development. The ‘journey’ may have been frustrated by lack of appropriate data and understanding of concepts, but the ‘arrival’ phase is clearly marked by the award of the Davy medal jointly to Mendeleev and Meyer in 1882, Throughout these stages there are lesser, although still significant contributions made by “little people” of science to the overall progress of the Table. The end of the journey is not the end of the quest: the discovery of new elements—“new ordeals”—and their incorporation into an increasing range of types and styles of periodic table, which—akin to the “life-renewing goal” of the fictional quest—continue.     

Björn Lindman: Fifty years in science and technology

Björn Lindman has for fifty years had an active role in science and technology. His main contributions are briefly described. In the science part particular emphasis is put on his studies of ion binding, of amphiliphilc self-association, of molecular diffusion in solution and of polymer–surfactant systems. Furthermore we describe his role in introducing scientific areas, his role in scientific collaborations and his contributions to scientific organizations. The text is concluded by some personal reflections by the author.     

中国近代化学教育家——张贻侗

张贻侗是中国近代著名的化学教育家。他对北京师范大学、北平大学、西北师范大学及西北大学的化学教育作出了积极贡献,同时他也积极投身科学普及工作。本文介绍了张贻侗的生平简历、科学成就及其思想,以纪念这位对中国化学高等教育做出杰出贡献的化学家。     

Fantastic voyage: designing self-powered nanorobots

The use of swarms of nanobots to perform seemingly miraculous tasks is a common trope in the annals of science fiction.1 Although several of these remarkable feats are still very much in the realm of fiction, scientists have recently overcome many of the physical challenges associated with operating on the small scale and have generated the first generation of autonomous self-powered nanomotors and pumps. The motors can be directed by chemical and light gradients, pick up and deliver cargo, and exhibit collective behavior.     

Setsuro Tamaru and Fritz Haber: Links between Japan and Germany in Science and Technology

Setsuro Tamaru was my grandfather. He worked with Fritz Haber in Germany on researching the ammonia synthesis process and contributed substantially to the development of scientific research and education in Japan. Although I had never met him, I felt his existence while I grew up, since our house was built by him and had many artifacts brought back from Germany by my grandfather; e.g., a Bechstein upright piano upon which I practiced piano every day and Fritz Haber's portrait with his handwritten message hung on the wall. This is an account of my grandfather's life, concentrating on his relationship with Fritz Haber. This story goes back to a time more than a century ago.     

Alfred Nier and the sector field mass spectrometer

Science and technology are intimately related, and advances in science often become possible with the availability of new instrumentation. This has certainly been the case in mass spectrometry, which is used in so many scientific disciplines. Originally developed as an instrument for research in physics it was used in the discovery of isotopes, their recognition as the fundamental species comprising the elements, and the investigation of elemental isotopic composition. Isotope ratio mass spectrometry is a metrological technique of the highest order, and has been widely used in chemical, biochemical, cosmochemical, environmental, geological, physical, and nuclear research. Mass spectrometry presently plays a key role not only in scientific research, but also in industrial operations. This paper highlights the role that Alfred Otto Carl Nier played in bringing mass spectrometry into the mainstream of science. Nier's career spanned a remarkable period in science, and he made crucial contributions to atomic weights, geochronology, isotope geochemistry, nuclear physics, and space science. He is widely viewed as the 'father of modern mass spectrometry', because of his genius with instrumentation, his innovations, and the generosity with which he shared his ideas and designs. It is timely to remember his fundamental work in mass spectrometry, particularly the development of the sector field mass spectrometer, which is still the instrument of choice for many isotope scientists some 66 years after its first appearance in 1940.     

现代固态有机化学之父——Gerhard M.J.Schmidt

本文主要介绍了GerhardM.J.Schmidt教授的生平、代表性的科研工作及其意义、影响和应用,从中展现出他的优秀品质、治学精神、杰出成就以及影响力。Schmidt教授少年早慧,求学艰辛,天赋独特,痴迷科学,为科学事业奋斗终身,在多个领域都有着卓越的成就,其中以固态有机化学领域最具代表性。他在科研的同时还担任诸多行政职务,为魏茨曼研究所、以色列乃至全世界的科学发展做了许多贡献。     

Stellan Hjertén's contribution to the development of monolithic stationary phases

This overview is presented to celebrate the birthday of one of the luminaries of the separation science and my friend - Stellan Hjertén. He made significant contributions to a variety of areas in separation science such as electrophoresis, LC, and CEC to name just a few. Since the scope of his work was enormous, this review will focus only on a single aspect of his scientific activities, the design and applications of monolithic materials. During the years starting from 1989, Stellan Hjertén published many excellent papers concerning the preparation of acrylamide chemistry-based monoliths and their use in both micro-HPLC and CEC. The following text details his works in the field.     

A colourful bond between art and chemistry

How can a work of art give us clues about scientific aspects? How can chemistry help a painter enhance his creativity and, above all, preserve the original characteristics of his work? Does an artist require scientific knowledge to innovate or, at least, not to be faked? Other symbiotic fields between art and science are: tattoos, as body art with physical and chemical consequences; pigments, as basic materials with interesting historiographical preparations; spectroscopy diagnosis, as very broad and thorough method of analysis (but also specific and non-intrusive); biosensors, as one of the applications of new pigments. Note also the interconnection between the several possible paths of science and art, which reflect new challenges with enormous potential investigated through a literature review and the application as a case study in an educational inquiry module.     

Nikolai Semenovich Kurnakov (to the 150th Anniversary of His Birthday)

The milestones of the life and activity of the outstanding Russian inorganic chemist and metallurgist are outlined; three spheres of his activity are considered: scientific research, educational activity, and science organization. The attention is focused on the elaboration and development of the physicochemical analysis technique, works dealing with natural salt deposits and water-salt systems. N.S. Kurnakov’s role in the development of the coordination chemistry is noted. N.S. Kurnakov’s contribution to education made in Petersburg (Petrograd, Leningrad) and M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University is demonstrated. N.S. Kurnakov’s outstanding role in the foundation of new scientific institutions, his science organizational activity in the Academy of sciences and in the foundation of Russian chemical and metallurgical industries is emphasized.     

Linus Pauling’s quest for the structure of proteins

Linus Pauling, arguably the greatest chemist of the twentieth century, never publicly admitted that there was a race for the determination of the structure of the most important biopolymers. But according to his competitors there was a race, in fact, there were two, and Pauling won one and lost the other. He had a tremendous amount of ideas, many of them worthless, but a few were spectacular. Not only did he make seminal discoveries, he was also a master of announcing them in a most dramatic way. Eventually, Pauling shifted toward politics and controversial issues, but his science ensured him his place among the greats. Here, we follow Pauling’s route to the discovery of the alpha-helix; the defeat of the star-studded British team in the same quest; and a seemingly unrelated story about the fate of the theory of resonance that assured Pauling’s victory yet at the same time it was excommunicated in the Soviet Union.     

土壤胶体化学家虞宏正的学术思想与科学贡献

虞宏正是我国著名的胶体化学与物理化学家、教育家。他扎根西北,融汇世界思想,形成了颇具价值的学术思想,至今仍是当代科学研究的精髓与主导思想。他毕生致力于胶体化学、热力学研究,建立了新的分支学科,开创了土壤科学研究所,培育了几代化学科学家,为中国化学学科和农业科学的发展做出了重要的贡献。     

The ethylene polymerization with Ziegler catalysts: fifty years after the discovery

Fifty years ago, Karl Ziegler and his co-workers discovered the synthesis of polyethylenes at low pressures and moderate high temperatures with transition-metal catalysts of the 4th group and aluminum organic compounds as cocatalysts. The last 50 years represent a story of innovations in science and industry in the development of high-activity catalysts and processes based on a detailed understanding of all relevant chemical and physical processes on all scales. Catalysts, technologies, and products are still under further development, which shows that the potential of this polymerization process is not fully exploited. Today's targets include achieving better product properties at lower production costs and the substitution of other materials, such as glass, paper, steel, and concrete in certain fields because polyethylenes deliver better resource-saving solutions.     

Paul J. Flory

Paul J. Flory was a pioneer in the development of a quantitative understanding of polymer science and a leader in placing it among the major scientific disciplines. Through his energy, skill and genius, and by the judicious interplay of experiment and theory, he demonstrated that polymers are not the complicated, intractable systems they were thought to be earlier, but are treatable in a rigorous and straight-forward manner. From his first scientific paper on polymers in 1936 to his last contributions, published posthumously, in 1986, Paul Flory was involved in shaping a consistent view of polymer science. A unique ability, to perceive the dominant cause in a complex effect and to formulate the action of this most important element of a situation in a simple and straightforward model, made his contributions so helpful and relevant that still today his models are often chosen over later, more refined, more accurate ones – Flory's models and concepts are of penetrating insight and a simplicity that allows all polymer scientists to understand and use them. Flory was involved in a very broad range of topics: among other topics, he laid the foundation of the understanding of polymerization reactions, illuminated the thermodynamics and hydrodynamics of polymer solutions and through this the nature of the polymer-solvent interactions and the θ-state, formulated important models of rubber elasticity, and investigated with excellent success polymeric crystals and liquid crystals. A contribution of great importance was the development of the rotational isomeric state method to the treatment of macromolecules of arbitrary size and structure and for many properties. His achievement was recognized by numerous awards, honorary degrees, and the Nobel Prize in 1974. Paul J. Flory, born on June 19, 1910, died on September 8, 1985.     

Frederick Thomas Trouton: The Man, the Rule, and the Ratio

Trouton was a multifaceted theoretician and experimentalist who left his name in several fields. Here, his many contributions to science are described and analyzed with particular emphasis on Troutons rule and its further development, his contributions to rheology (Troutons ratio), and the famous Trouton—Noble experiment, which is related to the absolute movement of the Earth through the æether.Chemists and chemical engineers are familiar with Trouton through the rule that carries his name. Troutons rule states that at the normal boiling temperature the entropy of vaporization is constant. They are generally unaware of his rich contributions in other scientific areas, such as rheology, osmotic pressure, and physics. Here we describe his personal life and career, his scientific achievements, and, in particular, how his rule has been further developed by others.     

Chemistry and the problem of pluralism in science: an analysis concerning philosophical and scientific disagreements

Chemistry, especially its historical practice, has in the philosophy of science in recent decades attracted more and more attention, influencing the turn from the vision of science as a timeless logic-centred system of statements towards the history- and practice-centred approach. The problem of pluralism in science has become a popular topic in that context. Hasok Chang’s “active normative epistemic pluralism” manifested in his book (2012) Is water H₂O? Evidence, realism and pluralism, pursuing an integrated study of history and philosophy of science, has provoked quite a widespread debate. It provides a good opportunity to discuss the topical philosophical issue of the nature of disagreements. The differences among disagreements in different domains have been pointed out in the disagreement literature. It has been noticed that in mathematics and science consensus is established more clearly than in philosophy where it remains largely unachievable (Kornblith in Disagreement, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 29–52, 2010). However, this conclusion is derived in the context of traditional logic-centred view of science. The aim of this paper is to consider the different nature of disagreements in science and in philosophy in the context of the history- and practice-centred approach. The analysis is focused on the critique of the received view of the Chemical Revolution which played quite a central role in Chang’s becoming a pluralist about science. Unlike Chang, however, a modified Kuhnian paradigm-conception of science and scientific revolutions is defended.