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Caltech
Beckman Institute

Non-Technical Articles

(last updated 12/1/21)

  1. "Bordercrossings: A Conversation in Cyberspace."  J. Stites, R. Powers, J. A. Labinger and N. K. Hayles, OMNI, 1993, Vol. 16 No. 2 (November), 38-ff.
  2. "Encoding an Infinite Message: Richard Powers's The Gold Bug Variations."  J. A. Labinger, Configurations: A Journal of Literature, Science, and Technology, 1995, 3, 79-93. (pdf)
  3. "Science as Culture: A View from the Petri Dish."  J. A. Labinger, Social Studies of Science, 1995, 25, 285-306. (pdf)
  4. "Out of the Petri Dish Endlessly Rocking: Reply to my Responders."  J. A. Labinger, Social Studies of Science, 1995, 25, 341-8.
  5. "Metaphoric Usage of the Second Law: Entropy as Time's (Double-Headed) Arrow in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia."  J. A. Labinger, The Chemical Intelligencer, 1996, 2 (4), 30-6. (pdf)
  6. "A Musical Periodic Table."  J. A. Labinger, The Chemical Intelligencer, 1997, 3 (1), 50. (pdf)
  7. "The Science Wars and the Future of the American Academic Profession."  J. A. Labinger, Daedalus, 1997, 126 (4), 201-20. (pdf)
  8. "Awakening a Sleeping Giant?", "Split Personalities, or the Science Wars Within", and "Let's Not Get Too Agreeable".  J. A. Labinger, in The One Culture? A Conversation about Science.  J. A. Labinger and H. Collins, Eds., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.
  9. "Controversy in Chemistry: A Course That Aims to ‘Tell It Like It Is.'"  J. A. Labinger, N. Kildahl and S. J. Weininger, Chemical Heritage, 2001, 19 (2), 4-5.
  10. "Atomic Theory," "Detective Fiction," "Entropy," "Hoffmann, Roald," "Lightman, Alan," "Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Science," "Powers, Richard," and "Scientists' Perspectives on Literature and Science."  J. A. Labinger, in Encyclopedia of Literature & Science, P. S. Gossin, Ed., Greenwood Press, Westport (CT), 2002.
  11. "Bond-stretch Isomerism: A Case Study of a Quiet Controversy."  J. A. Labinger, Comptes Rendus Chimie, 2002, 5, 235-44. (pdf)
  12. "Logic and the Editor." J. A. Labinger, Social Studies of Science, 2004, 34, 91-2.
  13. "Controversy in Chemistry: What Counts as Evidence? Two Studies in Molecular Structure."  J. A. Labinger and S. J. Weininger, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 2004, 43, 2612-9. (pdf)
  14. "Controversy in Chemistry: How Do You Prove a Negative? The Cases of Phlogiston and Cold Fusion." J. A. Labinger and S. J. Weininger, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 2005, 44, 1916-22. (pdf)
  15. "Organized Skepticism, Naïve Methodism, and other –Isms."  J. A. Labinger, Foundations of Chemistry, 2006,8, 97-110. (pdf)
  16. "Literature and Chemistry."  J. A. Labinger, in Routledge Companion to Literature and Science, B. Clarke and M. Rossini, Eds., Routledge, Abingdon (UK), 2010. (pdf)
  17. "Inspirational Chemistry" (an editorial).  H. B. Gray and J. A. Labinger, Science, 2011, 331, 1365.
  18. "Alfred Werner's Role in the mid-20th Century Flourishing of American Inorganic Chemistry."  J. A. Labinger, Chimia, 2014, 68, 292-6. (pdf)
  19. "Why Isn't Noble Gas Chemistry 30 Years Older? The Failed (?) 1933 Experiment of Yost and Kaye."  J. A. Labinger, Bull. Hist. Chem., 2015, 40, 29-36. (pdf)
  20. "Everything in Context: Two Episodes Relating Orbitals and Language."  J. A. Labinger, in Physics and Literature, K. Mecke and A. Heydenreich, Eds., deGruyter, Berlin, 2021, 163-78. (pdf)
  21. "Where Are the Scientists in Literature and Science?"  J. A. Labinger, J. Lit. Sci., 2017, 10, 65-9. (pdf)
  22. "Fred Basolo and the (Re)naissance of American Inorganic Chemistry."  J. A. Labinger, ACS Symposium Series, 2018, 1273, 209-28. (pdf)
  23. "The Personal Factor: Don Yost and the (Lack of) Progress in Inorganic Chemistry at Caltech, 1920-1965."  J. A. Labinger, in Perspectives in Chemical Biography in the 21st Century, I. Malaquias and P. Morris, Eds. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge (UK), 2019, 97-106. (pdf)
  24. "Malcolm L. H. Green: Reminiscences and Appreciations." J. E. Bercaw and J. A. Labinger, Inorg. Chim. Acta, 2019, 487, 405-8.
  25. "John E. Bercaw: A Joint Appreciation." R. G. Bergman and J. A. Labinger, Polyhedron, in press.
  26. "The History (and Pre-History) of the Disco very and Chemistry of the Noble Gases." J. A. Labinger, in 150 Years of the Periodic Table: A Commemorative Symposium, C. Giunta, V. V. Mainz and G. S. Girolami, Eds. Springer, Dordrecht, 2021, 303-27. (pdf)

BOOKS

  1. The One Culture? A Conversation about Science.  J. A. Labinger and H. Collins, Eds.  University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001.
  2. Up from Generality: How Inorganic Chemistry Finally Became a Respectable Field.  J. A. Labinger.  Springer, Dordrecht, 2013.
  3. Connecting Literature and Science.  J. A. Labinger.  Routledge, New York, 2021.

BOOK REVIEWS

  1. Richard Powers, "The Gold Bug Variations," 1991.  Engineering & Science, 1992, 55 (4), 41-2.
  2. Alan Lightman, "Einstein's Dreams," 1993.  Engineering & Science, 1993, 56 (3), 38-9.
  3. Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch, "The Golem: What Everyone Should Know about Science," 1993.  Engineering & Science, 1993, 57 (1), 39-40.
  4. Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt, "Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science," 1994.  Chemical & Engineering News, 1995, 73 (9 January), 27-8 (with S. J. Weininger).
  5. John Horgan, "The End of Science: Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of the Scientific Age," 1996.  Engineering & Science, 1996, 60 (4), 28-9.
  6. Roald Hoffmann, "The Same and Not the Same," 1995.  The Chemical Intelligencer 1997, 3 (1), 59-60.
  7. Felice Frankel and George M. Whitesides, "On the Surface of Things: Images of the Extraordinary in Science," 1997.  Engineering & Science, 1998, 62 (1), 35-6.
  8. Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch, "The Golem at Large: What You Should Know about Technology," 1998; and "The Golem: What You Should Know about Science (2nd Ed.)," 1998.  Physics World, 1999, 12 (February), 40.
  9. Michael Ruse, "Mystery of Mysteries: Is Evolution a Social Construction?" 1999.  Chemical & Engineering News, 1999, 77 (9 August), 40-1.
  10. Jerome Berson, "Chemical Creativity: Ideas from the Work of Woodward, Hückel, Meerwein, and Others," 1999.  Science, 1999, 285, 2075.
  11. Joe Schwarcz, "Radar, Hula Hoops and Playful Pigs: 67 Digestible Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life," 1999.  J. Chem. Educ., 2000, 77 (July), 834.
  12. Peter Parnell, "QED," 2001; Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann, "Oxygen," 2001.  Engineering & Science, 2001, 65 (1), 33-4.
  13. Christopher Frayling, "Mad, Bad and Dangerous: The Scientist and the Cinema," 2005.  Science, 2005, 310, 1770-1.
  14. Philip Ball, "Elegant Solutions: Ten Beautiful Experiments in Chemistry," 2005. Chemical & Engineering News2006, 84 (4 September), 56-7.
  15. Jonah Lehrer, "Proust was a Neuroscientist," 2007; and David Edwards, "Artscience: Creativity in the Post-Google Generation," 2008.  Science, 2008, 319, 1763. 
  16. Allegra Goodman, "Intuition," 2006.  Engineering & Science, 2008, 71 (2), 37-8.
  17. Steven Shapin, "The Scientific Life: A Moral History of a Late Modern Vocation," 2008.  Phys. Today, 2009, 62 (March), 54.
  18. Theodore L. Brown, "Imperfect Oracle: The Epistemic and Moral Authority of Science," 2009. Tradition and Discovery, 2008-2010, 36 (3), 17-9.
  19. Morton A. Myers, "Prize Fight: The Race and the Rivalry to be the First in Science," 2012. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2013, 52, 5681–2.
  20. C. N. R. Rao and Indumati Rao, "Lives and Times of Great Pioneers in Chemistry (Lavoisier to Sanger)," 2016. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2016, 55, 4862-3.
  21. Adeline Johns-Putra (Ed.), "Climate and Literature," 2019.  Configurations, 2021, 29, 235-7.
  22. Sina Farzin, Susan M. Gaines and Roslynn D. Haynes (Eds.), "Under the Literary Microscope: Science and Society in the Contemporary Novel," 2021.  Configurations, in press.
  23. Jean-Patrick Connerade, "The Planetary Atom," 2022; and Benjamin Labatut, When We Cease to Understand the World," 2020.  Foundations of Chemistry, in press.