About continuity and rupture in the history of chemistry: the fourth chemical revolution (1945-1966)

A layered interpretation of the history of chemistry is discussed through chemical revolutions. A chemical revolution (or rupture, discontinuity, transition) mainly by emplacement, instead of replacement, procedures were identified by: a radical reinterpretation of existing thought recognized by contemporaries themselves, which means the appearance of new concepts and the arrival of new theories; the use of new instruments changed the way in which its practitioners looked and worked in the world and through exemplars, new entities were discovered or incorporated; the opening of new subdisciplines, which produced, separated scientific communities. The fourth chemical revolution, fundamentally characterized by the incorporation of new instruments in chemical practices is discussed.