Notes on chemical historiography

Abstract

In the past, Physics, Chemistry and Biology have been developed as separate disciplines. Today instead, they are largely integrated and it would be indeed difficult to establish a sharp boundary among them. On the contrary, one can easily recognize the main contributes of each discipline to the general progress of science. Among the major achievements of Chemistry we can enlist the in vitro synthesis of a huge number of molecules, Periodic Table, molecular architecture, macromolecules, biochemistry. The text below discusses some of the major aspects of the development of the chemical theory and of its history, starting from the paradigmatic change of Lavoisier and Dalton, up to the structural theory, to the falsification of vitalism, to the quantum theory of the chemical bond.