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E-book Making Ammonia : Fritz Haber, Walther Nernst, and the Nature of Scientific Discovery
The discovery of ammonia synthesis from the elements forms the basis of dis-cussion for many topics including fertilizer and food, environmental protection,the repercussions of scientific research, and economic transformation, as well asother industrial, political, and social events. The story in this book focuses on thedevelopment of the natural sciences and delves into the details of the scientifichistory of ammonia synthesis. The resulting narrative provides a basis for yetanother discussion: the interaction between scientists and how they proceed in theirscientific endeavor. The account helps us better contextualize the completion of thescientific research on ammonia and frame the ensuing technological developmentsalong with the consequences for our world, both constructive and destructive.Today, our lives are overwhelmingly influenced by technological and scientificbreakthroughs. The laser, transistor, integrated circuit, and the touch screen haveeffected change in health care, communications, and even our wait at the super-market check-out line. While the consequences of such innovations are numerousand easy to identify, the origin of these achievements is obscured or more oftensimplified as a single event in the history of science. A scientific journal may publishan article, signaling the arrival of a discovery or method, but can the publicationof this information be considered the birth of the new knowledge? Can it bereduced to one final result? It seems more prudent and informative—not to mentionhistorically accurate—to describe a discovery in terms of an extended context. Priorachievements and conceptual development gradually lead to a setting in which thediscovery is possible. The changes solidify, becoming more profound and particularto the discovery as it nears. Following the breakthrough, further scientific andtechnological advances appear along with consumer products, all of which becomeincreasingly intertwined with our daily lives; what was previously possible only inthe laboratory becomes accessible to the broader public. The connection between thebefore and after of a scientific breakthrough is more than a single, isolated event;rather, it is a complex and protracted process. This book, in part, focuses on ourperception and definition of this connection. We examine it in the framework of the prior, confluent factors as well as the subsequent, expanding consequences—butalso as an object of investigation in itself.An exhaustive historical account would involve a sub-study of every elementleading to and extending from a discovery, resulting in an exponential growth ofinformation. This approach is obviously not useful. However, giving a theoreticalstructure to the vast number of factors helps us selectively delineate the contributingevents for clarity. The lines of demarcation may be dynamic and require anawareness of the collective continuity and flow of events in order to be drawn inan informative way (Rudwick1985, p. 13). Of the many conceivable historicalpathways, we can elucidate and contemplate the one which occurred–it is oftenthe result of imperfect or stochastic factors. In some cases, scientific advancementmay have been achieved without mature conceptual understanding. In other cases,theories or even entire disciplines may have given way to later advances only toreemerge with new relevance.1The dynamic is driven by knowledge moving fromone group to another through strategically placed actors or by random interactions.Whatever the specific events, cycles of reapplication result in improvement as thecontinued interlinking of knowledge leads to discovery.
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