The Two Cultures: Snow and Leavis Twenty-five Years Later, Lecture notes of Physical Chemistry

Download The Two Cultures: Snow and Leavis Twenty-five Years Later and more Lecture notes Physical Chemistry in PDF only on Docsity! CORNELL CHEMISTRY CHAIRMAN'S COLUMN Snow and Leavis Twenty-five Years Later In 1959 C. P. Snow, a distinguished novelist, who also was a first-class spectroscopist in his time, delivered the Rede Lectures at Cambridge University on "The Two Cul- tures". He warned that "..the intellectual and practical life of the whole of western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups." These groups were the Scientists and the Humanists, and between them there existed "a gulf of mutual incomprehension; sometimes hostility and dislike, but most of all lack of understanding." Snow's analysis did not go unchallenged. It drew a parti- cularly vitriolic rebuttal from F.R. Leavis, literary critic and Snow's colleague at Cambridge. Both Snow's original lecture and Leavis' aggressive essay are recom- mended reading, and I would like to share with you some of my feelings on these essays. In Snow's thesis I look for contradiction, sensing that some of his conclusions are dated. I enjoy the style of the unreasonable diatribe of Leavis; I like his verbal wickedness• Certainly some of Snow's points are as valid today as they were in the late fifties. The scientific illiteracy of the literati persists; it is, in fact, proportionately greater in a world of accelerating technology. Scientists make little effort to tell their humanist or social scientist colleagues what they are doing. They lapse too easily into paeans to technological achievement instead of trying to communicate the scholarly and logical essence of their activities. The "gulf of incomprehension" may have been broadened in these twenty-five years by the jealousy arising from the increasing affluence of scientific research. The life style of a scientific research group is very different from that of scholars in Spanish literature or urban planning. Recently, debates on general education at Harvard and Cornell revealed substantial good will between the Human- ists and the Scientists, but brought into the open once ^ . P . Snow, "The Two Cultures", Cambridge University Press, New York, 1964. F.R. Leavis "Two Cultures. The Significance of C.P. Snow", Pantheon Books, New York, 1963. THE NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY AND THE SOCIETY OF CORNELL CHEMISTS Cornell University Baker Laboratory Ithaca, New York 14853 Fall 1984 Issue 34 again some of Snow's concerns. Humanists seem to be more receptive to a science requirement than they were several decades ago, yet they are satisfied to have it ful- filled by History of Science or Philosophy of Science courses. Scientists insist on the "hard stuff", with associated labora- tory coursework. Yet in so many ways, Snow was wrong. He overestimated the innate, basic liberalism of the Scientists. We remember that the epidemic of student troubles in the late 1960's polarized academics around the world. The Scientists' position on this perturbation of our microsociety, as well as their response to global social con- cerns, if anything, was more conservative than that of their Hamanist colleagues. Snow misjudged the extensive illiteracy within science about other sciences when he attributed scientific illiteracy to the Humanists. Physicists' perceptions of as close a neighboring field as chemistry are sometimes peculiar, and vice versa. How many of us today could do what Mark Itoain's Connecticut Yankee was imagined to do, to reconstruct our technology from our know- ledge of basic science? Specialization can lead to ignorance. Snow's characterization of Humanists and literary persons as natural Luddites, blindly suspicious and destructive of science and technology, has proven incor- rect. In these times when we scientists are admonished for not having brought on the millenium that someone imagines we may have promised, when the deterioration of the environment is blamed on us, one might have expected all those natural Luddites to reveal themselves. Here would be a chance for them to jump on us, armed with their verbal skills, and join in our "persecu- tion11. No such thing has happened. Our colleagues in the humanities share our per- ception of the political and economic dimensions of the problem. They also know that if there is a broad attack on intelli- gence and clear logical thought, then we are all the targets of such an attack. And they have taken to word processors and photo-copy machines just as much as we have. But I think the way in which Snow was most seriously in error was in his estimate of the extent to which specialization and separation in fact are real or important. "Two polar groups" he calls us, and rein- forces his dichotomizing with anecdotal comment• Perhaps that was and is so, in the glorious enclosure of Cambridge, or Cornell. But step into the outside world. When I listened to the debate of the Ithaca community on the possible closing of some public schools, I perceived no partitioning between scientists and nonscientists according to the rationality, (better said irrationality), of their argument. I do not hear or feel any greater sensitivity among one or another group of colleagues to their childeren, spouses, and parents. To put it another way - if scientists are sup- posed to be more rational, then they have done a very good job of compartmentalizing their rationality to their working hours. And I doubt if the conductor of a local choral group that is putting on Mozart's Requiem can distinguish the disciplines of his singers. Really, the disunities, public and private, are trivial. Creative activity in science and the arts has much in common. What can one say of Leavis' denunciation, best tasted in the original? He doesn't like Snow, to put it mildly. Was it because Snow slighted Leavis' favorite, D. H. Lawrence, in a list of exemplary writers? Or was Snow in some way discour- teous or disloyal to that Cambridge aristo- cracy, the denizens of the High Table? One's voyeuristic interest in these origins is as timeless as Leavis' polemic style. When one seeks a program, a positive state- ment in what he writes, he points us to intelligence, humanity, and a third realm, which I think is a broader sense of knowing and understanding. If we could but detach that third realm from his bitter, idiosyn- cratic elitism, I think we could get every- one to value it. Roald Hoffmann -2- New Publications Several members of the Chemistry Department have produced new books in the last four years. Most of them are text books for use in undergraduate or graduate level college chemistry courses, while others are reference books for use by researchers and planners. Here we describe, briefly, each of those publications. B. K. Carpenter Determination of Organ- ic Reaction Mechanisms, John Wiley, New York, 1984. For advanced students in Organic Chemistry, the purpose of the book is to familiarize the reader with the tech- niques available for studying reaction mechanisms in organic chemistry. Includes isotopic labeling, chirality and stereo- chemistry, kinetics, isotope effects, methods in acid-base chemistry, interpreta- tion of activation parameters, and direct detection of reactive intermediates. F. A. long Appropriate Technology and Social Values-A Critical Appraisal, (Co- editor with Alexandra Oleson of the Ameri- can Academy of Arts and Sciences), Ballinger, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1980. Scientists, scholars, and public officials from advanced and developing nations offer a critical appraisal of appropriate tech- nology and examine how its relevance can be judged against the economic circumstances, available resources, technological exper- tise and social values of a given nation. S. T. Marcus Experimental Chemistry, with Michell J. Sienko and Robert Plane, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1984. This laboratory manual was written to accompany the textbooks Chemistry and Chemistry: Principles and Applications, but can just as well be used with any standard, college-level, general chemistry textbook. F, W. McLafferty Tandem Mass Spectro- metry, (F. W. McLafferty, ed. and author of Introduction and History), John Wiley, New York, 1983. Mass Spectral Correla- tions (Co-author with R. Venkataraghavan), Second Edition, ACS, Washington, D.C. 1982. Registry of Mass Spec- tral Data, Second Edition, John Wiley, New York, 1982. Reference books used by researchers in many fields of science. J. E. McMurry Organic Chemistry, Brooks/Cole, Monterey, California, 1984. A textbook which uses the most advanced illustrative techniques along with the best pedagogical concepts to cover the basics of a rapidly growing field of science, includ- ing the scientific advances of the last decade. J. A. Widom Chemistry; an Introduction to General, Organic and Biological Chemistry, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1981. ^Co-author with Stuart Edelstein). For students who have little or no back- ground in chemistry and whose preparation in mathematics includes only arithmetic and elementary algebra. Especially appropriate for students in biological and health- related fields of study. D. A. Usher "Origins of U f e" , Chapter 32 of Biochemistry, ed. Zubay; Addison- Wesley, 1983. (Co-author with J. P. Ferris). Previous chapters (1-31) of the book emphasize that life is a study of complex organic molecules that are self- organizing and self-replicating. The ulti- mate driving force for these processes is solar energy. This chapter deals with how complex biomolecules initially formed and how life processes spontaneously resulted from their interaction. C. F. Wilcox, Jr. Experimental Organic Chemistry - Theory and Practice, Macmillan, New York, 1984. This text is the eighth edition of "Laboratory Experiments in Organic Chemistry," originally written by R. Adams and J. Johnson, and (for editions 5,6 and 7) by C. F. Wilcox, Jr. In the present version, Dr. Wilcox has added new material, deleted some, and made other changes. The purpose of this laboratory text is to help the organic chemistry stu- dent understand both the underlying theories behind the reactions studied, and the separation methods used to purify the products• -5- GEORGE H. MORRISON: CHEMIST, TEACHER, EDITOR G.H. Professor George H. Morrison has been edi- tor of ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY since January, 1980. During the past five years he has written, each month, insightful editorials on subjects of interest to the chemical community as a whole, and especially to analytical chemists. He shares with all of you the following excerpts from his recent editorials. ffAs analytical chemists we are particular- ly affected by the sad state of chemical instrumentation for academic research. While many chemists in various disciplines share the use of these instruments in departmental facilities to obtain analytical data (NMR, IR, MS, GC, LC, AA) for their research, the analytical chemist is often involved in exploring the further development of these techniques and requires dedicated pieces of equipment for his research....Here obsolescence is parti- cularly critical as we strive to put our- selves out of business by intensive research to advance the field.11 Vol. 56, No. 11, Sept. 1984 "Another deterrent to entering academe is the high cost of setting up a research pro- gram in the university environment. To- day's young analytical chemists require expensive modern instrumentation which most often has to be obtained by writing very competitive research proposals to govern- mental agencies. New investigators with no prior track record are at a definite dis- advantage. In contrast, industry and government have no problem in providing the new PhD employee with the latest and best in hardware." Vol. 53, No. 2, Feb. 1981 "One of the greatest challenges analytical chemists face is applying their expertise to the study of unusual materials and the examination of exotic samples. There is a small community of scientists who are particularly fortunate to be able to com- bine their scientific skills and their interests in the arts in careers in art authentication, conservation, and restora- tion. Using a wide variety of old and new analytical techniques, they are able to examine diverse art treasures, such as paintings, metal, stone, wood, and ceramic objects, and textiles of past cultures, to verify authenticity or expose fraud. Of more lasting importance is the development of materials and techniques to preserve artifacts that have been damaged by the ravages of time and the environment. ....One project can take years of pains- taking work." Vol. 55, No. 8, July 1983 "Analytical chemists have always risen to the challenge of the major scientific and technological thrusts in the past and have contributed significantly to such important programs as nuclear energy, semiconductor and microelectronics developments, and lunar and planetary exploration. To date chemists in general, and analytical chemists in particular, have been specta- tors waiting to see where they fit into this rapidly emerging field of biotechno- logy. There is no doubt that ingenious methods of measurement will have to be developed and that the need already exists. We should be eager to evaluate the needs and join the team in this latest technological revolution." Vol. 55, No. 13, Nov. 1983 -6- New Instrumentation The purchase of instruments for the Chemical Instrumentation Facilities is funded by a partnership of sources. Members of the faculty write grant proposals to government agencies, such as the National Science Foundation or the National Institutes of Health, If an agency decides the proposal is worthwhile, it usually grants Cornell Chemistry one-half the total cost of the instrument, with the other half to be raised as "matching funds11 from other sources. Those other sources could be from within the university or grants from industry or foundations. Two new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance instru- ments have been purchased for the Depart- ment with funds from an initial grant of $300,000 from the National Institutes of Health to Bruce Ganea, Professor of Chemis- try, and to Robert Barker, Professor of Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology, and Provost of Cornell University. Addi- tional contributions from the University, the Biotechnology Institute, the Veterinary Equine Drug Testing Program, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Materials Science Center, the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, and the Department of Chemical Engineering helped meet the total cost of $600,000. Baker Laboratory's NMR facility will be equipped with both Varian XL-400 and XL-200 Superconducting High- Resolution Fourier-Transform instruments with fully computerized data-acquisition, data-transfer, and information storage systems. The XL-400 spectrometer will be the first of its kind in New York State. The new instruments will complement a faci- lity which now contains a Bruker WM-300 300 MHz NMR, a JEOL FX-90Q 90 MHz NMR, a Varian CFT-20 80 MHz NMR and a Varian EM-390 90 MHz NMR. With a grant of $123,000 from the Chemical and Biological Instrumentation Programs of the National Science Foundation, and with matching funds from the University, the De- partment of Chemistry has purchased an Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) Spectro- meter. Timothy liachs, Director of Chemical Instrumentation Facilities, reports the ESR spectrometer will be a significant addition to the Department's instrumentation capabilities, enabling researchers to study molecular dynamics in liquids, analyze molecular dynamics and phase transitions in liquid crystalline media, study non-metal to metal transitions in solutions and in disordered solids, elucidate transition- metal alkoxide chemistry, and characterize metalloprotein structure and function. Also recently purchased was a Fourier Transform-Infrared System which will facil- itate research in gas phase and dilute solution kinetics and mechanisms, photo- chemically generated transients, biopolymer structures in dilute aqueous solution, solid state emission and solid state absorption and reflectance. The FT-IR was purchased with a $124,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, $53,000 from a Biomedical Research grant, and other funds from the University. The FT-IR can be attached to a Gas Chromatograph and a Liquid Chromatograph and can record spectra from TLC plates. It is very versatile, and will be used in most of the research pro- grams in the Chemistry Department, as well as in related biological and physical science programs. The facility for Laser Spectroscopy in the Department of Chemistry has recently acquired several new laser systems which are being used to generate tunable vacuum ultraviolet wavelengths in the range from 60-200 nm. According to chemistry profes- sor Paul Houston, such laser sources, which have higher spectral brightness than even the best available synchrotrons, can be used to probe the products of unmolecular decompositions, photodissociations, and bimolecular reactions. In addition they can provide information about the energy distributions of molecules scattered from surfaces or excited by inelastic colli- sions. The research programs in which these new instruments will be used are aim- ed at increasing our understanding of the chemistry of the atmosphere, the details of catalysis, and the mechanisms of combus- tion. The new instruments are housed in an expanded Laser Facility in the basement of Baker Laboratory. They have been purchased through two separate grants from the Department of Defense Instrumentation Pro- gram, while operating expenses have been provided in part by a grant from the Dow Chemical Company. -7- BAKER LECTURER FALL 1984 Alan R. Battersby, F.R.S., Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cam- bridge, delivered the 1984 Baker Lecture Series August 28 though September 27. Pro- fessor Battersby's theme was "Discovering the Chemistry of Nature's Biosynthetic Pathways•" A specialist in synthesizing the so-called pigments of life, such as heme, chlorophyll and vitamin B-12, Dr. Battersby spoke about the key intermediates on the biosynthetic pathways, many of which are unstable or available only in minute quantities. Dr. Battersby holds degrees from the University of Manchester, the University of St. Andrews, the University of Bristol and the University of Cambridge. A Fellow of the Itoyal Society of London, he also was elected a Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina and has been awarded honorary degrees by Rockefeller University and the University of St. Andrews. A.R. BatteAAby THE BAKER LECTURES 1926-1984 Mr. George Fisher Baker was an important financial figure and philanthropist of the early 1900's who became interested in Cor- nell University through his friendship with George C. Boldt, then Chairman of the Cornell Board of Trustees. Mr. Baker made his first substantial gift to Cornell University for the Medical Col- lege in New York City in 1912. He made further large gifts of money to Cornell during the First World War for the con- struction of men's residence halls. In 1920 he donated $1,500,000 for the con- struction of a new chemistry laboratory to replace Morse Hall, which had burned on February 13, 1916. Early in 1923, Profes- sor L. M. Dennis, in letters to President Farrand and to DuPratt White, then Chairman of the Cornell Board, enthusiastically urged the establishment of an endowed lectureship ffto invite the most eminent chemists of the world11 to lecture at Cornell. He predicted that such a lectureship would be "of tremendous importance to the development of chemistry at Cornell11 and mentioned Mr. Baker as a possible donor. Two years later, in the fall of 1925, Mr. Baker gave $250,000 to be used to carry out Professor Dennis' plan and suggested that, if possible, the lectureship be put into operation the next semester. Professor Dennis must have anticipated Mr. Baker's gift, for he was able to persuade Professor Ernest Julius Cohen, who had succeeded van't Hoff at Utrecht, to come to Cornell for the following terra. Professor Cohen delivered the first Baker lecture on Febru- ary 25, 1926 in room 107 Baker Laboratory. His subject was "Physicocheraical Meta- morphosis ." Since that first lecture, seventy-four distinguished chemists have delivered lectures in the series, (no lectures were held from 1940 to 1947), with fourteen Nobel Laureates among them. With thank* to W.T. WUULQJI -10- ALUMNI NEWS Coover, Harry W., PhD'44, has retired as director of Research and Development, East- man Chemicals Division, Kingsport, Tennes- see. Dr. Coover was awarded the 1985 ACS Earle B. Barnes award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management, sponsored by Dow Chemical Company. Gassman, Paul G., PhD'60 has been awarded the James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry. He has been a professor of chemistry at the University of Minnesota since 1974. Mandelkern, Leo, PhD'49, was named Robert 0. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Florida State University. He has also received the 1984 Mettler Award for Thermal Analysis for his contributions in using thermal analysis methods to under- stand the structure, morphology and proper- ties of crystalline polymers. In addition, he was the recipient of this year's Florida Award of the ACS Florida Section. Pasternack, Robert F., PhD'62, has been named the Edmund Allen Professor of Chemis- try at Swarthmore College. Pawel, George W., BChem'll has been in touch with us recently from his home in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In his letter, Mr. Pawel mentioned a picture of the BChem'll class. Lauby was able to come up with a picture, which we reproduce here, hoping that any of you, who might be able to identify the unnamed individuals, will get in touch with us right away. Smith, G. Warren, PhD'66, has become Vice- President of Academic Affairs at Southeast- ern Louisiana University. He was previous- ly Dean of Sciences and Technologies at the Clear Lake, Texas campus of the University of Houston. Wannamaker, T. Elliot, PhD'35, writes that he is President of Manoa, Inc., in Orange- burg, South Carolina. He, like so many others, enjoys Lauby's column very much. Wheeler, Edward, S., PhD'52, wrote us to let us know he is Vice-President for Tech- nology (and has been for nine years) at Lapp Insulator, one of the world's major manufacturers of high voltage insulators. He lives in Batavia, New York. Willits, Charles 0., PhD'33, has been corresponding with us from his home in Medford Leas, New Jersey. He takes an active interest in the world of chemistry today, and is always eager for Lauby's column. • SOCIETY OF CORNELL CHEMISTS Once again we ask you to support the cost of printing and mailing the Newsletter with your voluntary, annual dues of $10 for the calendar year 1984. Please make checks payable to "Cornell Chemistry11 and send them to Society of Cornell Chemists, Baker Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. R.F.Pauc*, C.A.Schxvucha, W.3. WaleA, 3.K. ReMXitt, H.Schagam, E.A.Hovzy, H.R.Gundlack 1.3. Watson, H. Eastwood, P/io&. V&nnxA, Unknown, 3.3. PcutteAAon, G.V.IOuvtz, V.R.Evan* G.W. PmdL, Unknown, 3.P. Maid&i, H. LatouAeJXz, W.J. Q'%Kidn, JM.Fay, R.C. Lowing -11- FACULTY MEMBERS FALL 1984 H, D. Abruna A. C. Albrecht B. A. Baird J. M. Burlitch J. C. Calado* B. K. Carpenter J. C, Clardy*** D. B. Collum W. D. Cooke G. S. Ezra R. C. Fay M. E. Fisher*** J. H. Freed*** B. Ganem M. J. Goldstein*** E. R. Grant G. G. Hammes R. Hoffmann P. L. Houston G. M. Jursich** F. W. McLafferty J. E. McMurry J. Meinwald G, H, Morrison R. F. Porter H. A. Scheraga M. G. Silvestri* K. H. Theopold D. A. Usher B. Widom J. R. Wiesenfeld C. F. Wilcox P. T. Wolczanski *Visiting **Acting ***0n leave Emeritus Faculty S. H. Bauer F. A. Long J . L. Hoard A, W. Laubengayer W. T. Mi l l e r Chairman Executive Director Newsletter Editor R, Hoffmann E. Pfeters D. Middleton Cornell University Baker Laboratory Ithaca, New York 14853 Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postagk PAID / U Cornell f University