A Century of Nomenclature for Chemists and Machines

The chemist’s tongue is sticking out and his eyes are upturned in concentration. Spirals circle above his head; the chemist is confused. His body twisted into a knot, he slowly backpedals, one finger pointing straight up, the other pointing backwards. To his side, a chart displays a maze, or perhaps a diagram of a complex logic circuit, illustrating an arcane web of decisions and procedures. A dot sits at rest within the diagram, marking the stymied chemist’s progress through this maze. It is annotated with a comment: “You are here. Why?”

Duke Scholars

Author Evan Hepler-Smith History