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《Historical Perspective》由會員上傳分享，免費在線閱讀，更多相關(guān)內(nèi)容在學術(shù)論文-天天文庫。
1、Chapter1HistoricalPerspectiveAnyscienti?cpursuitstartsoutwithanexaminationofobjectsandphe-nomenaofinterestandproceedsbytheaccumulationofrelevantdata.Asregularitiesemerge,classi?cationofrelatedfactsinevitablyleadstothefor-mulationoflawsandhypothesesthatstimulateexperimentaldesign,unt
2、ilbetterunderstandingculminatesinageneraltheory.Thewiderthe?eldofenquirythemorecumbersomethedevelopmentoftheoreticalunderstandingwouldbe.Inasubjectlikechemistrywithsomanyfacetsitisevenmoredi?culttorecognizethecentralissuestofeatureinacomprehensivetheory.Chemistryhasitsrootsinalchemy
3、,bestdescribedasthemostextensiveprojectinappliedresearchofalltime.Itpursuedasingle-mindedsearchforthephilosopher’sstoneandtheelixiroflifeformorethanathousandyears,throughthemiddleagesandintothemodernera.Itreliedwithdogmaticcertaintyonagiventheorythatclearlyspeci?edthepowersofthephil
4、oso-pher’sstoneanditshiddenexistence.Noroomwasleftforimprovementorfalsi?cationofthetheoryandfailedexperimentsweredocumentedwiththesolepurposeofavoidingthesamemistakesinfuture.Claimsofsuccessfulproductionofalchemicalgoldwere?ercelyprotectedsecretsandtheonlyvisiblebene?tswereintheisol
5、ation,puri?cationandcharacterizationofthe-oreticallyirrelevantchemicalsubstances.Alchemy,inthissense,istheexactantithesisofscienti?cendeavour.Insciencethereisnoauthorityorinfallibletheory.Anytheorythatclaims?nalvaliditysti?esfurtherprogress.Thecurrentchemicalversionofquantumtheoryis
6、indangerofassumingsuchstature.Aswithalchemy,toomanyresourcesarecommittedunderitsassumedinfallibilityandthepresumedrewardawaitingultimatesuccessissimplytooalluringtoignore.Afreshlookattheuncriticaluseofquantummechanicsinchemistrycouldthereforebearewardingexercise.Forexam-ple,theexact
7、meaningofafamiliarconcept,suchasorbitalhybridization,asaworkingmodel,maywellappearnottobeofcrucialtheoreticalimpor-34CHAPTER1.HISTORICALPERSPECTIVEtance,exceptthatitalsofeaturesintheinterpretationofalargenumberofimportantsecondaryphenomena.Anyunresolvedprimaryambiguitycouldeasilybec
8、omein?atedtoproduce
