The Periodic System of the Chemical Elements

2019 has been designated by the United Nations and UNESCO as the International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT2019), so on the evening of 7 November the section was delighted to welcome Prof Brigitte van Tiggelen from the Science History Institute (Philadelphia, USA and Paris) and le Centre de Recherche en Histoire des Sciences (UCLouvain, Belgium) to the British School of Brussels to talk to us about the origins of the Periodic System of the Chemical Elements.

The International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT2019) coincides with the celebration of the anniversary of the first publication of the Periodic System by the Russian chemist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev. However, Mendeleev was not the only one to propose a classification of all the elements then known, and he shared with Lothar Meyer the idea of making it a periodic system.

Brigitte's talk was entitled 'A work in progress: the Genesis and Development of the Periodic System' and covered the genesis of the periodic system including the significant contributions of scholars other than Mendeleev, such as Lothar Meyer; the question of the true significance of the predictions made by Mendeleev in the acceptance of the system by contemporaries, and the gradual but relatively slow dissemination of this tool within chemistry education. 

She also focused on the unique feature of Mendeleev's approach in his desire to produce a law of nature, the Periodic Law, that could be used to make predictions about the existence and sometimes even the properties of elements still to be discovered.

Brigitte described the development of the ideas behind the periodic system and the multiplicity of different periodic tables that have been generated over the century and half of its existence. In particular how it has adapted to successive new discoveries relating to the constitution of matter and its interpretation in terms of quantum mechanics. Not only could Mendeleev not have foreseen these developments, but he had a very hard time accepting the discovery of radioactivity and unstable elements, not to mention the isotopes of the elements, or the disruption of the atom and the atomic nucleus. 

Today, it is not possible to imagine the teaching or publication of a chemistry textbook that did not include a Periodic Table. But research conducted by historians of science show that the table did not enter the educational syllabus until quite late, demonstrating that what we now consider to be the indispensable and universal tool was absent from chemical training for many generations.

We hope to invite Prof Van Tiggelen back in 2020 to talk on the subject of 'Women in Science'. She has recently been the joint editor of an important book on the contribution of women to shaping the chemical sciences - 'Women in their Element' - that provides ample evidence of the female contributions to the iconic table of chemistry. The book shows how women contributed to the building and understanding of the periodic system and to the discovery of  many elements.

Yeast: A Key to new Brewing Science

On the evening of 9 October 2019, RSC Belgium members and friends were treated to a most entertaining and informative talk from Professor Kevin Verstrepen, director of the Leuven Institute for Beer Research, professor in Genetics and Genomics at Leuven University, and Director of the VIB Centre for Microbiology. The event at took place at the British School of Brussels.

Prof. Verstrepen is best known for his research into the genetics of beer yeasts and the development of novel superior brewing yeasts for a variety of clients. As part of this research he and his team have rigorously tested and tasted some 250 (mainly) Belgian beers. Its a hard job, but someone has to do it!

While most consumers know that yeast is responsible for producing the alcohol in fermented beverages like beer and wine, few people realise that yeast also contributes greatly to the aroma of these products. Prof. Verstrepen took us through his research that focuses on characterising, comparing and understanding different industrial yeasts from across the world. Over the past years, his research team has collected thousands of yeast strains from various industries and locations, including some medieval breweries, distilleries and from many spontaneous fermentations.

Fermentation assays revealed enormous differences in aroma production, fermentation efficiency and stress tolerance. In addition, DNA analysis reveals the history and domestication of today’s yeasts, and also opened the doors to understanding and improving aroma formation. Using these resources, Kevin's team is producing several new, superior yeast variants with specific properties and aroma profiles , some of which are already used for commercial production of fermented beverages. In a parallel research effort, Prof Verstrepen is leveraging the power of high-throughput chemical analysis and the availability of large consumer databases with machine learning and AI to understand the chemistry behind aroma formation and subsequent consumer appreciation. 

The ultimate result was the first fact-based atlas of Belgian beer that allows cross-comparison between different beers.

The results of this extensive research are now available in a book 'Belgian Beer - Tested and Tasted - The Complete Guide' that provides objective science-based measures of beer parameters. The book can serve as an introduction to Belgian beer for the uninitiated; a reference for the seasoned Belgian beer fan; and encourages the reader to explore new beers based on the atlas. The ideal present for the beer lover in your life?

Kitchen Chemistry goes Belgium

In September RSC Belgium embarked on its biggest ever school tour with Prof. Stephen Ashworth of the University of East Anglia, aka the Kitchen Chemist. Our Kitchen Chemistry tour saw Stephen give 15 individual demonstration lectures or talks at six venues over five days. In total over 1 800 individuals participated in at least one of the events. The tour was partially funded by the first ever RSC Outreach Grant awarded to a section based outside the UK or Republic of Ireland and saw the section working with some new venues and audiences. All in all the Kitchen Chemistry tour was a tremendous success!

The tour kicked off on the morning of Monday 16 September with a Kitchen Chemistry demonstration lecture for elementary pupils at St Johns International School in Waterloo. Students from the International School of Flanders also came to this show.

After lunch Prof Ashworth gave a talk on the Periodic Table that he has developed specially for the International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT2019) to a group of older students.

A quick trip to the museum complex on the Waterloo battlefield was followed by an evening Kitchen Chemistry show for the Waterloo Scouts at St. Antony's Church Hall in Braine-l'Alleud. This was our first event organised for scouts in Belgium.

Tuesday saw the Kitchen Chemist with his chaperon and chauffeur for the week, RSC Belgium secretary Tim Reynolds, heading for the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Geel. At JRC Geel we were hosted by RSC member Dr Hendrik Emons and set up in the centre's auditorium to give a Kitchen Chemistry demo in the morning and the Periodic Table talk in the afternoon. The audience for these two shows were students from the neighbouring European School at Mol plus JRC staff. The JRC are looking to expand their outreach work to schools and hoped to learn from the Kitchen Chemist's experience.

If its Wednesday, then it must be the British School of Brussels in Tervuren. Here three Kitchen Chemistry demonstrations and one Periodic Table talk were given to students during the day. In addition, in the evening a public performance of the Kitchen Chemistry demonstration lecture was given. This evening event was also the prize giving for our 2019 Chemistry Challenge winners.

Woluwe European School was the venue on Thursday 19 September with one performance each of Kitchen Chemistry and the IYPT talk to appreciative student audiences.

The tour was completed on Friday 20 September with our first ever trip to Antwerp. The venue was Antwerp International School where two Kitchen Chemistry demonstrations were given and a final Periodic Table talk.

Our thanks to all the teachers, technicians and RSC Belgium volunteers involved in making this very successful tour a reality. Feedback from students and teachers was universally fantastic and we may well be inviting the Kitchen Chemist back to Belgium in the near future. Second helpings anyone?

Beyond the Higgs Boson and Gravitational Waves

On 16 May 2019 RSC Belgium had the pleasure of welcoming back Professor Vincent Lemaitre of UCLouvain for a fascinating talk entitled 'Beyond the recent discoveries of the Higgs Boson and gravitational waves' in the Performing Arts Centre (PAC) at St. Johns International School.

Prof Lemaitre described how the recent discoveries of the Higgs boson and gravitational waves have shown how quantum field theory and general relativity are today's proven theories of modern physics. These two theories have managed to explain thousands of non trivial observations and today, some people think that there is nothing more to discover in physics.

In his presentation, after a reminder and an explanation of these two spectacular discoveries, Prof Lemaitre was able to convince the audience that, on the contrary, we are undoubtedly at the dawn of a new revolution of thought in our quest of a more complete understanding of nature!

Prof Vincent Lemaitre is Director of the Centre for Cosmology, Particle Physics and Phenomenology at the Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL) and is an enthusiastic ambassador for his science who is able to engage with audiences of all ages. His previous talk to RSC Belgium was a tremendous success and this follow-up again proved to be an extremely animated and informative evening!