Pioneering Ideas for the Physical and Chemical Sciences, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1997 Josef Loschmidt's Contributions and Modern Developments in Structural Organic Chemistry, Atomistics, and Statistical Mechanics

This volume presents the contributions delivered at the "Josef-Loschmidt-Sympo­ sium," which took place in Vienna, June 25-27, 1995. The symposium was arranged to honor Josef Loschmidt one hundred years after his death (8 July 1895), to evaluate the sig­ nificance of his contributions to chemistry and physics from a modem point of view and to trace the development of scientific fields in which he had done pioneering work. Loschmidt is widely known for the first calculation of the size of molecules (1865/66), which also led to values for the number of molecules in unit gas volume and for the mass of molecules. With critical analyses of problems in statistical physics he made important contributions to the development of that field, "Loschmidt's paradoxon" continuing to be a point of departure for present day studies and discussions. For decades there was little awareness that Loschmidt was a pioneer in organic struc­ tural chemistry. Only in recent years has Loschmidt's first scientific publication "Chemis­ che Studien I", published in 1861, become more widely known and it is now recognized that with his ideas on the structure of organic molecules he was greatly ahead of the chemists of that time. The papers in these proceedings are arranged in three sections: l. Organic structural chemistry (Chapters 1-12). 2. Physics and physical chemistry (Chapters 13-26). 3. Loschmidt's biography, Loschmidt's world (Chapters 27-33).

Organic Structural Chemistry: The Significance of the Hydrogen Bond for Physiology; Aromatic Rings as Hydrogen Bond Acceptors; M. Perutz. Natural Product Structure Elucidation: 1950-2000; C. Djerassi. Conformational Analysis-the Elevation of Two-Dimensional Formulas into the Third Dimension; E. Eliel. Thoughts and Experiments on a Chemical Etiology of the Nucleic Acid Structure; A. Eschenmoser. Physics and Physical Chemistry: The Precise Determination of Loschmidt's Number (Avogadro Constant) as a Step Towards a Redefinition of the SI Unit of Mass; P. Becker. Loschmidt's Reversibility Argument and the H-Theorem; H. Spon. The Arrow of Time-Statistics and the Universe; H. Bondi. Stability of Matter; W. Thirring. Loschmidt's Biography, Loschmidt's World: Josef Loschmidt-Some Biographical Remarks; H. Sexl. From Curiosity to Passion: Loschmidt's Route From Philosophy to Natural Science; P.M. Schuster. Scientific Discussion and Friendship between Loschmidt and Boltzmann; D. Flamm. Josef Loschmidt's Economic Ideas: Protective Tariffs and National Welfare; F. Weber. Appendices: The Scientific Publications of J. Loschmidt. The Josef-Loschmidt-Symposium 1995. 20 Additional Articles. Index.