'Chemistry and the Limits of Human Knowledge'

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• Professor Hasok Chang, Clare Hall
• Saturday 24 September 2011, 13:45-14:45
• Clare Hall, Herschel Road, Cambridge, CB3 9AN.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Harriet Frankland.

Lecture by Professor Hasok Chang

Chemistry is a science renowned for its mastery of nature.  However, a careful look at the historical development of chemistry reveals many interesting questions about the limits of human knowledge, even in this most confident and versatile of sciences.  These philosophical questions can be illustrated by a few selected highlights from the history of chemistry. Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier’s ’Chemical Revoluntion’ of the late 18th century, John Dalton’s chemical atomic theory in 1808, and, more recently, how we explain chemical bonding. The lesson here is that what we may take as secure modern scientific knowledge is always vulnerable to disturbance by the very progress of science. 

Hasok Chang is the Hans Rausing Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.  He has been a Professorial Fellow of Clare Hall since November 2010.

Booking details: This event is free and open to the public, for tickets please e-mail alumni@clarehall.cam.ac.uk

This talk is part of the Clare Hall Lectures and Talks series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Clare Hall, Herschel Road, Cambridge, CB3 9AN

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.