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Henley's Recipes
January 5, 2015
Scientists are taught to always cite
primary sources in their
research papers. I doubt that many
astronomers still
cite Copernicus in publishing a paper on
Solar System studies, but
citations are a good measure of what's considered to be important in any field of
science. Last year marked the 50th anniversary of the
Science Citation Index, a service that tracks citations in scientific papers, often to the dismay of
academics who are often
evaluated by how frequently their papers are cited. A recent article in
Nature has reviewed the hundred most cited scientific papers.[1]
What's interesting about this list is that many of the papers are not the ones you would expect. Certainly,
Watson and
Crick's DNA paper should be there, and at least one of Einstein's
fundamental papers, right? These are absent. I've highlighted a few of these top hundred papers, below, selected because of their relevance to my fields of study. You can see from the most cited paper and many of the rest that most highly cited papers involve methods.
•
O.H. Lowry, N.J. Rosebrough, A.L. Farr, and R.J. Randall, "Protein measurement with the folin phenol reagent," J. Biol. Chem., vol. 193 (1951), pp. 265-275. This paper has the most citations (305,148), and you can see from its title that it's an
assay to determine the amount of
protein in a
solution.
•
R. D. Shannon, "Revised effective ionic radii and systematic studies of interatomic distances in halides and chalcogenides," Acta Crystallographica Section A, vol. 35, no. 5 (September, 1976), pp. 751-767. I've cited this paper myself. It has 28,658 citations, and it's ranked twenty-second. Robert Shannon, the paper's author, was a scientist with
Dupont,
Wilmington, Delaware.
•
S. Iijima, "Helical microtubules of graphitic carbon," Nature, vol. 354, no. 6348 (November 7, 1991), pp. 56 - 58. This is the
carbon nanotube paper, ranked thirty-sixth with 22,899 citations.
•
N. Metropolis, A.W. Rosenbluth, M.N. Rosenbluth, A.H. Teller, and E. Teller, "Equation of state calculations by fast computing machines," J. Chem. Phys. vol. 21 (1953), pp. 1087-1092. This paper, which has
its own Wikipedia page, is ranked fifty-eighth with 15,902 citations. It describes Monte Carlo calculations using what's now known as the
Metropolis algorithm. I wrote about
Nicholas Metropolis in a
previous article (Nicholas Metropolis, June 11, 2010).
•
K. S. Novoselov, A. K. Geim, S. V. Morozov, D. Jiang, Y. Zhang, S. V. Dubonos, I. V. Grigorieva, and A. A. Firsov, "Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films," Science, vol. 306, no. 5696 (October 22, 2004), pp. 666-669. This is the
graphene paper, ranked sixty-fifth with 15,022 citations. As the authors state in their abstract, "We describe
monocrystalline graphitic films, which are a few
atoms thick but are nonetheless stable under
ambient conditions,
metallic, and of remarkably high quality."
•
A. Bondi, "Van der Waals volumes and radii," J. Phys. Chem., vol. 68, no. 3 (March, 1964), pp. 441-451. Another useful list of atomic
parameters along the lines of the previously cited Shannon paper. This paper is ranked eighty-third with 13,417 citations. This paper is used as a reference for the
Atomic radii of the elements (data page) on
Wikipedia.
•
S. Kirkpatrick, C.D. Gelatt, and M.P. Vecchi, "Optimization by simulated annealing," Science, vol. 220, no. 4598 (May 13, 1983), pp. 671-680. This paper is ranked eighty-sixth with 13,293 citations. As its authors write, "A detailed
analogy with
annealing in solids provides a
framework for
optimization of the properties of very large and
complex systems." I'm a member of the small group that's done both actual annealing and
simulated annealing.
•
Donald W. Marquardt, "An algorithm for least-squares estimation of nonlinear parameters," Journal of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, vol. 11, no. 2 (1963), pp. 431-441. This paper ranks eight-eighth with 13,258 citations. Many useful methods, such as this, appeared in the
early days of computing. This is sometimes called the
Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm, since it was apparently first published by Kenneth Levenberg under the title, "A Method for the Solution of Certain Non-Linear Problems in Least Squares" in the Quarterly of Applied Mathematics.
•
B. O'Regan and M. Grätzel, "A low-cost, high-efficiency solar-cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films," Nature, vol. 353, no. 6346 (October 24, 1991), pp. 737-740. This paper, ranked ninetieth with 12,873 citations, is about
dye-sensitized solar cells. I wrote about these in a
previous article (Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, June 23, 2010).
•
S. Brunauer, P.H. Emmett, and E. Teller, "Adsorption of gases in multimolecular layers," J. Am. Chem. Soc., vol. 60, no. 2 (February 1938), pp. 309–319. This paper is ranked ninety-ninth with 12,252 citations. It's applied as a
popular method for measuring the surface area of solids.
Methods for performing parts of
experiments, and for later
data analysis of experimental
data, are very important to
experimentalists, as the preceding list shows. There are also small "tricks of the trade" that don't constitute a "
least publishable unit," so these become
footnotes of papers, and knowledge passed from one
graduate student to another.
In my
Internet research last month, I happened upon an interesting
book of useful
recipes published a
hundred years ago and
freely available on the
Internet Archive.[2] The
title page of this book, "Henley's twentieth century formulas, recipes and processes, containing ten thousand selected household and workshop formulas, recipes, processes and moneymaking methods for the practical use of manufacturers, mechanics, housekeepers and home workers," is pictured at the left. Although many of the recipes are for
household use, quite a few relate to useful
technologies of the time, and they might, with some modification, lead to better ways to do useful
laboratory tasks. I've selected a few of these, as follow.
Natural Glue for Cementing Porcelain, Crystal Glass, etc. (page 15). "The large
shell snails which are found in
vineyards have at the extremity of their body a small, whitish
bladder filled with a substance of
greasy and
gelatinous aspect. If this substance extracted from the bladder is applied on the
fragments of porcelain or any body whatever, which are
juxtaposed by being made to touch at all parts, they acquire such
adhesion that if one strives to separate them by a
blow, they are more liable to break at another place than the cemented seam. It is necessary to give this glue sufficient time to dry perfectly, so as to permit it to acquire the highest degree of
strength and
tenacity."
A non-magnetic alloy for watch-springs, wheels, etc. (page 737). "
Gold, 30 to 40 parts;
palladium, 30 to 40 parts;
copper, 10 to 20 parts;
silver, 0.1 to 5
per cent;
cobalt, 0.1 to 2.5 per cent;
tungsten, 0.1 to 5 per cent;
rhodium, 0.1 to 5 per cent;
platinum, 0.1 to 5 per cent."
Electroplating: Brassing (page 573). "The following recipe is recommended for the bath:
Copper acetate, 50 parts, by
weight;
dry zinc chloride, 25 parts, by weight; crystallized
sodium sulphite, 250 parts, by weight;
ammonium carbonate, 35 parts, by weight;
potassium cyanide, 110 parts, by weight.
Dissolve in 3,000 parts of
water."
Note - Cyanide was often used in electroplating; but, as you can imagine, its use is nowadays discouraged!
Impervious Corks (page 223). "Corks which have been
steeped in
petrolatum are said to be an excellent substitute for
glass stoppers. Acid in no way affects them and
chemical fumes do not cause
decay in them, neither do they become fixed by a blow or long disuse."
Liquids for Etching Steel (page 327)."I.
Iodine 2 parts
Potassium iodide 5 parts Water 40 parts; II.
Nitric acid 60 parts Water 120 parts
Alcohol 200 parts
Copper nitrate 8 parts; III.
Glacial acetic acid 4 parts Nitric acid 1 part Alcohol 1 part."
Strengthened Filter Paper (page 503). "When ordinary filter paper is dipped into nitric acid (
specific gravity, 1.42), thoroughly washed and dried, it becomes a
tissue of remarkable properties, and one that deserves to be better known by
chemists and
pharmacists. It shrinks somewhat in size and in weight, and gives, on
burning, a diminished
ash. It yields no
nitrogen, nor does it in the slightest manner affect liquids. It remains perfectly pervious to liquids, its filtering properties being in no wise affected, which, it is needless to say, is very different from the behavior of the same paper "
parchmented" by
sulphuric acid. It is as
supple as a rag, yet may be very roughly handled, even when wet, without tearing or giving way. These qualities make it very valuable for use in filtration under
pressure or
exhaust. It fits closely to the
funnel, upon which it may be used direct, without any supports, and it thus prevents undue access of
air. As to strength, it is increased upward of 10 times."
Solder For Glass (page 662). "A
compound of
tin (95 parts) and zinc (5 parts) melts at 392
F., and can then be firmly united to glass. An
alloy of 90 parts of tin and 10 parts of
aluminum melts at 734 F., adheres, like the preceding, to glass, and is equally
brilliant. With either of these alloys glass may be soldered as easily as
metal, in two ways. In one,
heat the pieces of glass in a
furnace and rub a stick of soldering alloy over their surfaces. The alloy will
melt, and can be easily spread by means of a roll of
paper or a slip of aluminum. Press the pieces firmly together, and keep so until cool."
References:
- Richard Van Noorden, Brendan Maher, and Regina Nuzzo, "The top 100 papers - Nature explores the most-cited research of all time," Nature, vol. 514, no. 7524 (October 30, 2014), pp. 550-553, doi:10.1038/514550a.
- Gardner D. Hiscox, "Henley's twentieth century formulas, recipes and processes, containing ten thousand selected household and workshop formulas, recipes, processes and moneymaking methods for the practical use of manufacturers, mechanics, housekeepers and home workers," The Norman W. Henley Publishing Company (New York, 1914), the University Of California Library, via the Internet Archive.
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