It is well known that in 1964 Ted Benfey introduced a revealing new kind of periodic table of the spiral type (sometimes called a "snail") in the ACS magazine that he then edited, a periodical that was entitled simply Chemistry. Since that time, Benfey has written widely on the history of the periodic table, especially the work of the mid-nineteenth-century German theoretical chemist Lothar Meyer. The speaker will provide a perspective on the Benfey periodic table and on his work on Lothar Meyer; he will then connect both of these subjects to another of Benfey's important contriburtions to the history of chemistry, namely the historical development of the theory of chemical structure.

Periodicals, periodical elements, and structures of periodicity: Perspective on the work of Ted Benfey

2019 Fall National Meeting

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