Eric Scerri | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1953-08-30)August 30, 1953 (age 72) Malta |
| Citizenship | United States United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | Walpole Grammar School,Westfield College,University of Cambridge,University of Southampton,King's College London |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry, logic, history and philosophy of science, chemical education |
| Institutions | University of California, Los Angeles |
| Doctoral advisor | Heinz Post[1] |
| Website | http://www.ericscerri.com/ |
Eric R. Scerri (born August 30, 1953) is an American chemist, writer andphilosopher of science ofMaltese origin.[2][3][4] He is a lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles; and the founder and editor-in-chief ofFoundations of Chemistry, an international peer reviewed journal covering thehistory andphilosophy of chemistry, andchemical education.[5][6]
He has worked on thehistory andphilosophy of theperiodic table and is the author and editor of several books in this and related fields.[7] Scerri was a participant in the 2014PBS documentary film,The Mystery of Matter.
Scerri attended Walpole Grammar School inEaling. He received his BSc fromWestfield College (University of London), his Certificate in Postgraduate Study from theUniversity of Cambridge, his MPhil from theUniversity of Southampton, and his PhD fromKing's College London.[6]
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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 articles in the chemical education literature, including accounts of the electronic structures of transition metals and the occurrence of anomalouselectron configurations.
InA 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.[citation needed]
In December 2015, Scerri was appointed byIUPAC as the chair of a project to make a recommendation on the composition ofgroup 3—whether it should consist ofscandium,yttrium,lanthanum andactinium; or scandium, yttrium,lutetium andlawrencium. In January 2021, the project issued a provisional report in IUPAC's news magazineChemistry International suggesting the latter placement.[8] This accords with a previous IUPAC report from 1988, as well as a suggestion byLev Landau andEvgeny Lifshitz in theirCourse of Theoretical Physics.
Most recently (2016) he proposed an evolutionary approach to the philosophy of science based on seven case studies of little known scientists such asJohn Nicholson,Anton Van den Broek andEdmund Stoner. Scerri has argued that these lesser known figures are just as significant as 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 byThomas Kuhn, Scerri supports Kuhn's notion that scientific progress is non-teleological and that there is no approach towards an external truth.
