History of chemistry articles within Nature Chemistry

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  • In Your Element |

    Geng Deng relates how terbium, a garden-variety lanthanide, has found its way into our daily lives owing to its green phosphorescence.

    • Geng Deng

  • In Your Element |

    Named after a mysterious place, thulium — one of the rarest rare earths — has some exotic chemistry in store for us, says Polly Arnold.

    • Polly Arnold

  • Thesis |

    We all appreciate how chemical knowledge has advanced over the years, but Bruce C. Gibb reminds us that chemical culture has similarly made great advances.

    • Bruce C. Gibb

  • In Your Element |

    Dieter Ackermann explains why element 110 occupies a significant place in the superheavy corner of the periodic table.

    • Dieter Ackermann

  • Commentary |

    The question often arises as to who may have deserved a Nobel Prize but was not awarded one. Rarely is this discussion extended to who should have received more than one Nobel Prize, but in the field of organic synthesis there are some compelling candidates.

    • Jeffrey I. Seeman

  • In Your Element |

    Adrian Dingle tells the story of how the name of element 109 represents the lasting recognition that one of the greatest nuclear physicists was in danger of never receiving.

    • Adrian Dingle

  • In Your Element |

    Brett F. Thornton and Shawn C. Burdette relate how element 100 was first identified in a nuclear weapons test, but that was classified information, so researchers had to 'discover' it again using other methods.

    • Brett F. Thornton
    •  & Shawn C. Burdette

  • Thesis |

    Louis Pasteur was a scientific giant of the nineteenth century, but, as Joseph Gal asks, was his most famous contribution to the understanding of chemistry — chirality — influenced more by his artistic talents?

    • Joseph Gal

  • In Your Element |

    Alasdair Skelton and Brett F. Thornton examine the twisting path through the several discoveries of ytterbium, from the eighteenth century to the present.

    • Alasdair Skelton
    •  & Brett F. Thornton

  • In Your Element |

    Made under a cloak of wartime secrecy, yet announced in the most public of ways — a radioactive element that governments insist we take into our homes. Ben Still explains how element 95 is one of real contradiction.

    • Ben Still

  • In Your Element |

    From grand challenges of nineteenth century chemistry to powerful technology in small packages, Brett F. Thornton and Shawn C. Burdette explain why neodymium is the twin element discovered twice by two Carls.

    • Brett F. Thornton
    •  & Shawn C. Burdette

  • In Your Element |

    Nadezda V. Tarakina and Bart Verberck explore the colourful history and assets of element 48.

    • Nadezda V. Tarakina
    •  & Bart Verberck

  • Thesis |

    Michael Donnay and Michelle Francl want chemists to share the stories behind the work they do, and not be afraid to identify the heroines and heroes — and their epic adventures — that paved the way.

    • Michelle Francl
    •  & Michael Donnay

  • In Your Element |

    Discovered during secret testing by the United States, Joanne Redfern tells us about element 99 and why its namesake cautioned against the very technology that led to its creation.

    • Joanne Redfern

  • In Your Element |

    Naturally scarce but synthetically accessible, Gauthier J.-P. Deblonde and Rebecca J. Abergel discuss element 89 and its emergence as a candidate radio-theranostic metal for cancer treatment.

    • Gauthier J.-P. Deblonde
    •  & Rebecca J. Abergel

  • In Your Element |

    Lars Öhrström tells of the fleeting, but still tangible, chemistry of dubnium, the heaviest of the group 5 elements.

    • Lars Öhrström

  • Thesis |

    Although Friedrich Stromeyer is best remembered for writing one of the founding works in plant geography — the forerunner to modern-day biogeography — his contributions to chemistry should not be underestimated, argues Malte C. Ebach.

    • Malte C. Ebach

  • In Your Element |

    Alpha decay into flerovium? It must be Lv, says Kat Day, as she tells us how little we know about element 116.

    • Kat Day

  • In Your Element |

    Stanislav Strekopytov relates the history of rare-earth element samarium, from its geological origins to its geochronological uses.

    • Stanislav Strekopytov

  • In Your Element |

    Matic Lozinšek and Gary J. Schrobilgen consider krypton — namesake of Superman's home planet — its superoxidant compounds, and their roles in coaxing elements into their highest oxidation states.

    • Matic Lozinšek
    •  & Gary J. Schrobilgen

  • Thesis |

    It is easy to overlook just how important temperature is when it comes to chemistry and Michelle Francl wonders if thermometers had a role in turning alchemists into chemists.

    • Michelle Francl

  • In Your Element |

    David Payne relates iridium's role in two very different ages.

    • David Payne

  • Commentary |

    Of all the things humans can bestow names upon, new chemical elements are about the rarest. Our group of periodic table experts attempts to read the tea leaves and predict the names for elements 113, 115, 117 and 118.

    • Shawn C. Burdette
    • , Philip Ball
    •  & Brett F. Thornton

  • In Your Element |

    Peter Dinér describes the journey of yttrium from its discovery in a remote mine to high-temperature superconductors and light-emitting diodes.

    • Peter Dinér

  • Thesis |

    Carl Wilhelm Scheele had a hand in the discovery of at least six elements and contributed to the early development of chemistry in numerous other ways. Bruce Gibb looks into Scheele's story and considers why he doesn't get the credit that he deserves.

    • Bruce C. Gibb

  • In Your Element |

    From sugar beets to TV screens, François-Xavier Coudert explores the history, applications and perils of the Scottish element, strontium

    • François-Xavier Coudert

  • In Your Element |

    Brett F. Thornton and Shawn C. Burdette consider holmium's hotly contested discovery and later obscurity.

    • Brett F. Thornton
    •  & Shawn C. Burdette

  • Thesis |

    It's time to wake up and smell the chemistry, argues Michelle Francl.

    • Michelle Francl

  • In Your Element |

    Wojciech Grochala describes how the oldest, lightest and most abundant element in the universe continues to play an essential role on today's Earth.

    • Wojciech Grochala

  • In Your Element |

    Claire Hansell surveys the uses, past and present, for antimony, including an unusual method for 'recycling' it.

    • Claire Hansell

  • In Your Element |

    Trick cutlery and mobile phones have one peculiar element in common, as Marshall Brennan explains.

    • Marshall Brennan

  • In Your Element |

    From Earth to the stars and back again, John Emsley surveys the uses, occurrences and mysteries of an element that is playing an increasing role in human affairs.

    • John Emsley

  • Thesis |

    Michelle Francl wonders if the harem effect in crystallography is overrated.

    • Michelle Francl

  • In Your Element |

    From rubies to Rolls-Royce, Anders Lennartson explores the colourful history of chromium and its coordination compounds.

    • Anders Lennartson

  • In Your Element |

    Thomas Albrecht-Schmitt explains the origin of element 98's striking green glow, and why the future for californium chemistry is just as bright.

    • Thomas Albrecht-Schmitt

  • Thesis |

    They might not be fundamental constants of nature, but atomic weights are one of the foundations on which modern chemistry is built, explains Juris Meija.

    • Juris Meija

  • In Your Element |

    Anders Lennartson muses on molybdenum and its essential role in catalysing reactions from the bacterial to the industrial scale.

    • Anders Lennartson

  • In Your Element |

    Alfred Nobel's eponymous element, nobelium, was 'first' discovered either in the 1950s or 1960s, in the USSR, Sweden or the USA. Brett F. Thornton and Shawn C. Burdette delve into the ensuing decades of internecine strife over the discovery of element 102.

    • Brett F. Thornton
    •  & Shawn C. Burdette

  • In Your Element |

    John Arnold, Thomas L. Gianetti and Yannai Kashtan look back on thorium's chemistry, and look forward to harnessing its nuclear potential.

    • John Arnold
    • , Thomas L. Gianetti
    •  & Yannai Kashtan

  • In Your Element |

    Eric Ansoborlo considers the disproportionate potency of polonium compared with its relative scarcity on Earth.

    • Eric Ansoborlo

  • In Your Element |

    Claude Piguet reflects on the history of erbium, which is very much intertwined with its rare earth cousins yttrium, ytterbium and terbium.

    • Claude Piguet

  • Commentary |

    Research efforts related to the Hofmeister series of salt ions have waxed and waned during its long and storied history. The past few decades have, however, witnessed a renaissance in its study, and the importance of the related solvation science is becoming ever more apparent.

    • Pavel Jungwirth
    •  & Paul S. Cremer

  • In Your Element |

    From fake gems to a fixture of nuclear plants, John Emsley considers the many uses of zirconium.

    • John Emsley

  • In Your Element |

    Elements that are widespread in nature and have been used for thousands of years are not typically deemed exciting, but Anders Lennartson argues that we shouldn't take zinc for granted.

    • Anders Lennartson

  • In Your Element |

    Markku Räsänen remembers making a neutral compound featuring argon, and ponders on the reactivity of this inert element.

    • Markku Räsänen

  • Thesis |

    A century ago this month, Frederick Soddy described and named isotopes in the pages of Nature. Brett F. Thornton and Shawn C. Burdette discuss how chemists have viewed and used isotopes since then — either as chemically identical or chemically distinct species as the need required and technology allowed.

    • Brett F. Thornton
    •  & Shawn C. Burdette

  • In Your Element |

    John Emsley looks at an element that is vital to life.

    • John Emsley

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