Organic synthesis: arts of science

In 1883, Henry A. Rowland, the first President of the American Physical Society and Professor of Physics at Johns Hopkins University, published an essay entitled “A Plea for Pure Science” in Popular Science Monthly. He took the development of gunpowder as an example to emphasize that SCIENCE itself must be sought in the applications of science. “They [Chinese] have known the application of gunpowder for centuries; and yet the reasons for its peculiar action, if sought in the proper manner, would have developed the science of chemistry, and even of physics, with all their numerous applications.” This paper includes some questionable viewpoints, but the one mentioned here is worthy of our reflection on its implications.