Domain of Chemistry

Abstract

John Horgan, a Scientific American staff writer, wrote a book titled “The End of Science” (Broadway Books 1997). The title suggests that sciences are coming to an end in the sense that discoveries of new fundamental principles are not very likely any more, and he talks about the ideas of the prominent practitioners in every major field of science. A major omission in this book is “chemistry.” Either he does not know much about chemistry, or he does not think it’s worth of his time to talk about it for whatever the reason. No matter what his opinion may be, it may be true that chemistry has very nearly come to an end in his sense. Chemistry’s basic principles are based on quantum mechanics and statistical thermodynamics, both of which seem to have been well established. I hasten to add, though, that the emphasis is “nearly,” and that there could still be a few more basic principles germane to chemistry yet to be discovered. I cannot predict what they may be.