Author and UCLA chemistry lecturer Eric Scerri discussed his new book in an interview on Book Circle Online (BCO).
In the interview, which was streamed live on May 2nd, Scerri discusses his book A Tale of Seven Scientists and a New Philosophy of Science with Book Circle Online (BCO) host James Lott Jr. The interview is now available on-line. BCO is the world’s first online network with shows dedicated to the intimate discussion and dissection of various books.
In the 50-minute interview, Scerri not only discusses his book but also life, teaching at UCLA, his love of Blues music, the universe and all that.
A Tale of Seven Scientists is described on the BCO website:
“Eric Scerri presents a completely original account of the nature of scientific progress. It consists of a holistic and unified approach in which science is seen as a living and evolving single organism. Instead of scientific revolutions featuring exceptionally gifted individuals, Scerri argues that the “little people” contribute as much as the “heroes” of science. To do this he examines seven case studies of virtually unknown chemists and physicists in the early 20th century quest to discover the structure of the atom. They include the amateur scientist Anton van den Broek who pioneered the notion of atomic number as well as Edmund Stoner a then physics graduate student who provided the seed for Pauli’s Exclusion Principle. Another case is the physicist John Nicholson who is virtually unknown and yet was the first to propose the notion of quantization of angular momentum that was soon put to good use by Niels Bohr.
Instead of focusing on the logic and rationality of science, Scerri elevates the role of trial and error and multiple discovery and moves beyond the notion of scientific developments being right or wrong. While criticizing Thomas Kuhn’s notion of scientific revolutions he agrees with Kuhn that science is not drawn towards an external truth but is rather driven from within. The book will enliven the long-standing debate on the nature of science, which has increasingly shied away from the big question of “what is science?”
Scerri is the author or editor of ten books and a full-time lecturer in the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of the international journal Foundations of Chemistry which covers the history and philosophy of chemistry, and chemical education. Scerri was the historical consultant for the 2015 PBS docudrama Mystery of Matter: Search for the Elements in which he is interviewed extensively about the creator of the periodic table, Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev.
To learn more about Scerri, visit his website.
