Eric R. Scerri (born August 30, 1953) is an American chemist, writer and
philosopher of science
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
of
Maltese origin. He is a lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles; and the founder and editor-in-chief of ''
Foundations of Chemistry'', an international peer reviewed journal covering the
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
and
philosophy of chemistry, and
chemical education.
[Rocke A 2012,]
A place at the periodic table'
'' The Times Higher Education Supplement'', 15 August[UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 2013, 'Scerri, Eric R.', University of California. For current biographical information see the home page o]
Eric Scerri
/ref>
He is an authority on the history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
and philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
of the periodic table
The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the elements, is an ordered arrangement of the chemical elements into rows (" periods") and columns (" groups"). It is an icon of chemistry and is widely used in physics and other s ...
and is the author and editor of several books in this and related fields.[Sella A 2013,]
An elementary history lesson'
''New Scientist
''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...
'', 13 August Scerri was a participant in the 2014 PBS documentary film, '' The Mystery of Matter''.
Scerri attended Walpole Grammar School in Ealing
Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...
. He received his BSc from Westfield College (University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
), his Certificate in Postgraduate Study from the University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
, his MPhil from the University of Southampton
The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...
, and his PhD from King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
.[
]
Research interests
Scerri's research has mainly been in the history and philosophy of chemistry, in particular on the question of the extent to which chemistry reduces to quantum mechanics. He has specialized in the study of the periodic table of the elements, including its historical origins and its philosophical significance. More recent writings have included critiques of claims for the emergence of chemistry and the existence of downward causation.
In addition to historical and philosophical work Scerri has published numerous articles in the chemical education literature, including accounts of the electronic structures of transition metals and the occurrence of anomalous electron configuration
In atomic physics and quantum chemistry, the electron configuration is the distribution of electrons of an atom or molecule (or other physical structure) in atomic or molecular orbitals. For example, the electron configuration of the neon ato ...
s.
In ''A Tale of Seven Elements'' (2013) Scerri recounts the story of the discovery of the seven elements missing from the periodic table shortly after the turn of the 20th century, including the setbacks, misguided claims, and sometimes acrimonious priority debates and disputes.
In December 2015, Scerri was appointed by IUPAC
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...
as the chair of a project to make a recommendation on the composition of group 3—whether it should be the elements Sc, Y, La and Ac; or Sc, Y, Lu and Lr. In January 2021, the project issued a provisional report in IUPAC's news magazine ''Chemistry International'' suggesting Sc, Y, Lu and Lr.[
] This accords with a previous IUPAC report from 1988, as well as a suggestion by Lev Landau
Lev Davidovich Landau (; 22 January 1908 – 1 April 1968) was a Soviet physicist who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics. He was considered as one of the last scientists who were universally well-versed and ma ...
and Evgeny Lifshitz in their ''Course of Theoretical Physics''.
Most recently (2016) he proposed a new evolutionary approach to the philosophy of science based on seven case studies of little known scientists such as John Nicholson, Anton Van den Broek and Edmund Stoner. Scerri has argued that these lesser known figures are just as significant as the heroic personalities in that they constitute the missing gaps in a gradual evolutionary and organic growth in the body of scientific knowledge. Although he rejects the occurrence of scientific revolutions as envisioned by Thomas Kuhn
Thomas Samuel Kuhn (; July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American History and philosophy of science, historian and philosopher of science whose 1962 book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' was influential in both academic and ...
, Scerri very much supports Kuhn's notion that scientific progress is non-teleological and that there is no approach towards an external truth.
Second editions of Scerri's two most cited books were published in 2019 and 2020.
Publications
Books
*2020
''What is a Chemical Element?''
co-edited with E. Ghibaudi, Oxford University Press, New York,
*2020
''The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance''
2nd edition, Oxford University Press, New York,
*2019
''The Periodic Table: A Very Short Introduction''
2nd edition, Oxford University Press, New York,
*2018
''Mendeleev to Oganesson: A Multidisciplinary Perspective on the Periodic Table''
with co-editor G Restrepo, Oxford University Press, New York,
*2016
''A Tale of Seven Scientists, and a New Philosophy of Science''
Oxford University Press, New York,
*2016
''Essays in the Philosophy of Chemistry''
with co-editor Fisher G. Oxford University Press, New York,
*2015
''Philosophy of Chemistry: Growth of a New Discipline''
with co-editor McIntyre L. Springer, Dordrecht, Berlin,
*2013
''A tale of seven elements''
Oxford University Press, Oxford,
*2013
''30-second elements: The 50 most significant elements, each explained in half a minute''
as editor, Metro Books, New York,
*2011, ''The periodic table: A very short introduction'', Oxford University Press, Oxford,
*2009, ''Selected papers on the periodic table'', Imperial College Press, London,
*2008, ''Collected papers on philosophy of chemistry'', Imperial College Press, London,
*2007, ''The periodic table: Its story and its significance'', Oxford University Press, New York,
*2006, ''Philosophy of Chemistry: Synthesis of a New Discipline'', with co-editors Baird D & McIntyre L, Springer, Dordrecht,
References
External links
Home page of Eric Scerri
Foundations of Chemistry
Career Advice for Scientists
from Eric Scerri
*
with editor of '' Nature Chemistry''
Mystery of Matter
3-part Public Broadcast Television Series
* at Concordia University
Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...
, Montreal (2012?)
* at University of Kansas, Lawrence (2012?)
Ten most influential chemists today (2020)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scerri, Eric
21st-century American philosophers
Alumni of King's College London
British expatriates in the United States
21st-century American chemists
People involved with the periodic table
University of California, Los Angeles faculty
American historians of philosophy
American philosophers of science
Living people
1953 births
Historians from California