This book offers a survey of the historic development of selected areas
of chemistry and chemical physics, discussing in detail the European,
American and Russian approaches to the development of chemistry. Other
key topics include the kinetics and non-linear thermodynamics of
chemical reactions and mathematical modeling, which have found new
applications in the theory of dynamical systems. The first observations
of the periodicity of chemical reactions were lost in the mist of time.
In the second half of the 19th century, the phenomenon of chemical
periodicity was studied in relation to electrochemistry, solutions and
colloids. Discovered in the late 19th century, Liesegang rings are still
enigmatic and remain attractive for researchers. However, the discovery
of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction marked the successful culmination
of the efforts to find a true chemical oscillatory reaction. The book
investigates chemical phenomena that were neglected in the past, but
have been rediscovered, placing them into a new conceptual framework.
For example, it notes that William Bray, who discovered the first
oscillatory homogeneous reaction in 1921, was influenced by the first
bio-mathematicians who predicted chemical oscillations in homogeneous
systems.