Chemistry International -- Newsmagazine for IUPAC

Each year, the International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry organizes a symposium which gathers the leading researchers working on philosophy and foundational issues of chemistry. This year, the ISPC Conference will be held 9-11 August in Bogota, Colombia, at the Universidad de los Andes.

Lectures will be on such areas as foundational concepts, ontology, methods, ethics and aesthetics, as well as to the nature of chemical explanation, the relationship between chemistry and other sciences, historical aspects of chemistry, sociology and linguistics of chemistry and educational aspects. The special theme of ISPC 2011 will be the roots of Avogadro’s hypothesis, its development and impact on chemistry and related fields, as well as its implications and problems. Another special topic of interest will be the the relationship between mathematics and chemistry, its historical, development and the current state of this relationship which has given rise to the new chemical subfield of mathematical chemistry.

The 2010 ISPC meeting was held at the University of Oxford and in all previous years has alternated between North America and Europe. This year, (2011), the meeting is taking place, for the first time, in Latin America, thanks to the importance that philosophy of chemistry has gained in this part of the world. Let us make ISPC 2011 a meeting where scholars from Europe and the Americas come together and a place where the worldwide philosophy of chemistry community will strengthen its relationships.