Technikatörténeti szemle 22. (1996)

Papers from the Second International Conference on the History of Chemistry and Chemical Industry (Eger, Hungary, 16–19 August, 1995) - Inczédy, János: Science and Information

Science Fig. 1. The fundamental information cycle of the usual human actions In the cycle the information goes round periodically or continuously (O

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= flux of information) either scientific investigations, or control of tehnological processes, or medical treatment of ill patiences are carried out. The chemical composition of the substances can not be observed directly with our sensing organs. The chemical properties are typical hidden properties, which were not accessible long in the history. Information concerning chemical composition became accessible only that time, when the necessary physical knowledge arrived a certain level, which took possible the development of the first analytical chemical methods. Today we know actually that the common kitchen salt contains sodium and chloride ions sitting equidistantly in the regular crystal lattice. Neither the composition nor the structure of the simple material are accessible directly by our sensing organs. One of the most striking fundamental event, which caused revolution in the development of modern biology was the discovery of the double helix structure of the DNA molecules by Williams, Watson and Crick. (Nobel price in 1962). The discovery was possible only in the time, when the instrumental techniques: X-ray diffraction, electrophoresis, amino acid analysis and sequence analysis were already discovered and used. The Nobel prices for