Dead Chemists Do Tell Tales: The Religious Shaping of Chemical Knowledge

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of the science-religion relationship in the thought and practice of two influential chemists: F. Wilhelm Ostwald and Charles A. Coulson, who lived during the formative period of modern chemistry (1870s–1950s). I examine Ostwald's program for an "allgemeine Chemie" and Coulson's program for quantum chemistry, explore the deeper implications/basic beliefs at stake in these developments, and suggest why the "received" interpretation of the relation of science and religion may be inadequate for an understanding of their work.