Chemophobia and passion: why chemists should desire Marcel Proust

The article recalls important anniversaries associated with chemistry and Charles University. Personal anniversaries of individuals associated with chemistry and our oldest university include commemorations of the life milestones of Jan Jakub Václav Dobřenský of Černý Most (400 years since his birth), Johann Jakob Geelhausen (285 years since his death), Jan František Löw of Erlsfeld (375 years since his birth), Josef Bohumil Mikan (280 years since his birth), Jan Antonín Scrinci (250 years since his death), Stanislav Škramovský (40 years since his death), Jan Stanislav Štěrba-Böhm (85 years since his death), Karel Štulík (10 years since his death), Oldřich Tomíček (70 years since his death), and Adam Zalužanský of Zalužany (410 years since his death). Alongside these are the 375th anniversary of the publication of Thaumantias, liber de arcu coelesti, in which Jan Marek Marci of Kronland first described the decomposition of light by prisms, 185 years since Adolph Martin Pleischl moved from Prague to Vienna and 180 years since the start of lectures on analytical chemistry at the Charles University. Full text English translation is available in the on-line version.

Section: Referátunclassified

Chemical Anniversaries of 2023 Associated with Charles University

Chalupa¹,

Nesměrák²

2023

“…Může však zároveň tuto komunikaci učinit obtížnou nebo ji i úplně znemožnit. To ostatně ukazuje více než šedesát let moderní chemofobie 1-3 a s ní spojené rozmělňování chemické identity 4 se zásadně negativním vlivem na získávání a retenci nových chemických talentů 5 . Správné pojmenování nějaké věci, bytosti nebo jevu je tak zásadní proto, aby vzájemná komunikace byla smysluplná, tedy aby idea, která je slovem sdílena, byla skutečně pochopena.…”

Section: úVodunclassified

“…Eponymická pojmenování v laboratorní technice tak představují nejenom dědictví minulosti, ale také významný komunikační prostředek současné chemie. Dají se dobře využít při zprostředkování chemie studentům a laikům, na základě příběhů a osobností, které za nimi stojí 4,5,150 .…”

Section: Závěrunclassified

Eponyms in Laboratory Equipment

Nesměrák¹,

Chalupa²

2022

In the chemistry laboratory, we can find plenty of tools that bear the name of their creator. Such names are called eponyms. The article presents 72 of the most commonly used representatives of eponymic names in the laboratory technique. Their primary sources (where possible) and actual creators were identified by excerpting historical chemical literature including rare and not easily accessible items. The article shows that some eponymic names are not based on the name of the discoverer, but rather on the names of the manufacturers (e.g., Griffin beaker), the names of those who popularized the device (e.g., Liebig condenser), or who were associated with it because of their fame (e.g., Willstätter needle). Eponymic names in the laboratory technique are not only a legacy of the past and an important means of communication in contemporary chemistry, but they can also be used to communicate chemistry to students and lay people, using interesting stories hidden behind them. Full text English translation is available in the on-line version.

“…V minulém roce jsme upozornili na málo známou skutečnost o vztahu díla proslulého francouzského spisovatele Marcela Prousta (1871−1922) a chemie 1,2 . Kolem osoby tohoto autora a jeho monumentálního románu À la recherche du temps perdu (Hledání ztraceného času) se utvořila nesčetná obec obdivovatelů, označovaných jako proustovci, a s Proustovým životem a tvorbou je spojena celá řada pověstí a mýtů 3 .…”

unclassified

Jacques Guérin: Chemist-Patron and Co-Creator of Proustian Myth

Chalupa¹,

Nesměrák²

2023

According to Seneca, the ability to excel beyond one’s destiny in any circumstance makes one noble. One of those who succeeded without fail was Jacques Guérin, a chemist who made a major contribution to the creation and subsequent codification of a myth carefully moulded around one of the most important figures of modern culture, Marcel Proust. Although the relics of Proust’s life and oeuvre, that the trained chemist and industrialist Guérin preserved, are held in considerable esteem, Guérin’s own person has been much slower to find its way to public attention and recognition. Guérin’s chemical identity, however, has remained almost entirely neglected. This is despite the fact that using the profits from applied chemistry (the production of perfumes) Guérin was able to render a vital service to French and world culture, as a patron, as a selfless supporter of poor artists and, above all, as a co-creator of the Proust myth. This article is dedicated to filling this gap in our collective memory. Moreover, one of the key memorabilia of Marcel Proust's life – rescued and restored at his own expense by Guérin – an otter fur-lined, dark grey wool overcoat, also represents an inspiring example of the material culture of the pioneering age of polymer chemistry. This admired and exceedingly venerated coat is, in fact, decorated with Bakelite buttons, i.e., the first ever synthetic material, which mankind owes to the Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland, one of the most important figures of applied chemistry of the early twentieth century. Full text English translation is available in the on-line version.