A Research Area

Abstract

Chapter 3 describes the development of the research area which can be called “chemical periodical processes”. It emphasizes the phenomenon of four books: German 1913 book, English 1926 book, French 1934 book, and Russian (Soviet) 1938 book “Physico-chemical periodical processes”. This list can be enriched by including one more book, namely, “Liesegang rings and other periodical structures” (London, 1932). Kremann 1913 book states that the periodical reactions can be divided into two main groups: homogeneous and heterogeneous. However in the succeeding books this classification has been overshadowed by the other problems. Besides Liesegang rings and other periodical structures and processes these books are concerned with mathematical modeling of chemical periodicity. This is a specific subarea of the area of chemical periodicity. Lotka’s 1910 paper showed that by taking into consideration the phenomenon of autocatalysis one can propose the system of equations describing the slowly damped chemical oscillations, Lotka’s 1920 paper showed that by modifying his 1910 model one can produce the system of equations described (in particular) undamped oscillations. Besides Lotka, Hirniak (Lvov) contributed to the early mathematical studies of chemical periodical processes (1908, 1911).