High-Voltage Electricity, Knighthood, and Nobel Prizes — oh, my!

The most important subatomic particle in chemistry is discovered by a physicist — yay…

Everyone knows about Johnny Dalton, Antoine Lavoisier, Handsome Robby Boyle, Avogadro, Mendeleev and his biblical beard, etc. — they’re the famous ones, they’re fun to write about, and Johnny Dalton sounds like someone you’d blaze it up with. However, there are several others whose contributions are just as important that usually don’t make the cut in terms of celebrity: Justus von Liebig, Joey Gay-Lussac, Jönny Berzelius to name a few. While I think we all grasp the importance of the electron (I’d say that understanding the nature of electrons will give anyone a basic understanding of roughly 90% of chemistry), few could name the dude credited with its discovery.

I think I know the reason why: the dude was a physicist. As much as I hate to admit it, this event marked a turning point: from this point on, physics became inextricable from chemistry. Alluding to my previous statement, understanding the nature of electrons for specific element will absolutely help understand the reactivity of that element — understanding the nature of electrons requires some knowledge of physics. As a diehard organic chemist, it hurts me say all this… it really does.

All right—let’s get to the meat and potatoes. Science awaits!