My first and my latest publication

Abstract

The author discusses the lessons he has learned in the process of performing the research that led to his first publication on the photochemistry of β,γ-unsaturated ketones in 1970 and to his latest publication on the history of the Woodward-Hoffmann rules in 2022.

Fifty Years of a Dispute. A Triptych: Why Woodward?**

“…One had to enter a totally different world of the classical "soft" explanations of chemistry. [259] For a solver of puzzles, this was the ultimate challenge for Woodward.…”

Revolutions in Chemistry: Assessment of Six 20th Century Candidates (The Instrumental Revolution; Hückel Molecular Orbital Theory; Hückel’s 4n + 2 Rule; the Woodward–Hoffmann Rules; Quantum Chemistry; and Retrosynthetic Analysis)

“…The choice of candidates for this study was based on the following considerations. I wanted all to be from 20th century chemistry, the era of chemistry in which I was an experimental research organic chemist for more than four decades − and whose history I have studied since the early 1980s. , I wanted to examine candidates that are familiar to many of the current readers of this journal, by virtue of their own professional experiences. I wanted to examine at least one candidate that had previously been declared a revolution in chemistry by multiple scholars, including both historians and chemists .…”