Publications [#286665] of Seymour Mauskopf

Papers Published

1. Mauskopf, S, Richard Kirwan's phlogiston theory: its success and fate., Ambix, vol. 49 no. 3 (November, 2002), pp. 185-205, ISSN 0002-6980 [12833914], [doi]
   (last updated on 2024/04/19)

   Abstract:
   First proposed in the early 1780s, Richard Kirwan's phlogiston theory was the most successful enunciation of the English pneumatic approach to phlogiston. Phlogiston was identified with a material substance, inflammable air. In this paper, I explore the nature of Kirwan's theory, its success in the mid-1780's, the unprecedented collective attack on Kirwan's Essay on Phlogiston by Lavoisier and his colleagues, and Kirwan's ultimate abandonment of phlogistic explanation.