A team from the University of Cambridge has unveiled a pioneering platform that combines automated experimentation with Machine Learning (ML) to predict chemical reactions, potentially accelerating the development of new drugs.
Microscopic dendrites of sodium hydrogencarbonate a.k.a. baking soda, viewed under a do-it-yourself smartphone-based microscope 🔬 in reflected white light.
British Physicist and Chemist Henry Cavendish died #OTD in 1810.
He is noted for his discovery of hydrogen, which he termed "inflammable air". He described the density of inflammable air, which formed water on combustion, in a 1766 paper, On Factitious Airs. Antoine Lavoisier later reproduced Cavendish's experiment (first experiment to measure the force of gravity between masses in the laboratory) and gave the element its name. via @wikipedia
Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius was born #OTD in 1859. He was famous for showing how dissolved salts separate into charged particles ("ions"). In developing a theory to explain the ice ages, Arrhenius, in 1896, was the first to use basic principles of physical chemistry to calculate estimates of the extent to which increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide will increase Earth's surface temperature through the greenhouse effect.
In 1889, Arrhenius explained the fact that most reactions require added heat energy to proceed by formulating the concept of activation energy, an energy barrier that must be overcome before two molecules will react, the so called Arrhenius equation.
In 1903 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the extraordinary services he has rendered to the advancement of chemistry by his electrolytic theory of dissociation."
I was sad to learn that recently retired #McMasterUniversity#Chemistry Professor Willie Leigh died on February 4th after a brief illness. He was a passionate and talented physical organic chemist, as well as a dedicated #MacChem faculty member. My condolences to his family, former group members, and bandmates. 🪦
Italian physicist and chemist Alessandro Volta was born #OTD in 1745.
He was a pioneer of electricity and power and is credited as the inventor of the electric battery and the discoverer of methane. He invented the voltaic pile in 1799, and reported the results of his experiments in 1800 in a two-part letter to the president of the Royal Society. via @wikipedia