Kekule's Dream

Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz (1829-1896) was born in Germany. He entered the University of Giessen to study architecture but switched to chemistry after taking a chemistry course. He was a professor of chemistry at the University of Heidelberg, at the University of Ghent in Belgium, and then at the University of Bonn. In 1890, he gave an extemporaneous speech at the twenty-fifth anniversary cele­bration of his first paper on the cyclic structure of benzene. In this speech he claimed that he had arrived at the Kekule structure as a result of dozing off in front of a fire while working on a textbook. He dreamed of chains of carbon atoms twisting and turning in a snakelike motion, when suddenly the head of one snake seized hold of its own tail and formed a spinning ring. Recently, the veracity of his snake story has been questioned by those who point out that there is no written record of the dream from the time he experienced it in 1861 until the time he related it in 1890. Others counter that dreams are not the kind of evidence one publishes in scientific papers. But it is not uncommon for scientists to report moments of creativity through the unconscious, when they were not thinking about sci­ence. After relating his dream, Kekule said, "Let us learn to dream, and per­haps then we shall learn the truth. But let us also beware not to publish our dreams until they have been examined by the wakened mind." In 1895, he was made a nobleman by Emperor William II. This allowed him to add "von Stradonitz" to his name. Kekule's students received three of the first five Nobel Prizes in chemistry: van't Hoff in 1901, Fischer in 1902, and Baeyer in 1905.

Contributed by Mr S. Devender Singh, dev_chem2002@yahoo.co.in .

Subjective Vs Objective

If IIT JEE is objective exam then should one prepare doing subjective questions?

According to the new pattern IIT JEE, there is lot of emphasis on, "comprehension" and "analytical ability". Comprehension simply means understanding things at deep level and it does not just imply linked comprehension type of questions. Analytical ability means application of what has been comprehended in different/new situations. Essentially this is what IIT JEE has been over many years. The objective paper is a good friend of teachers who are made to evaluate lakhs of subjective answer copies. One can easily see that Olympiads toppers continue to do well in IIT JEE. Olympiads are subjective type of exams which test deep understanding ability and problem solving approach with greater difficulty level than that of IIT JEE. Objective questions in IIT JEE are like subjective questions in new bottle. However, keeping in view the fact that a student must be prepared to handle new situations in addition to comprehension, a student should do subjective problems and innovative objective problems. At the end of the day, it is his/her understanding and application that are going to sail him/her through.

NCERT - Log misses the bus!

While Log tables as tools for calculation may be facing their extinction due to the "fitter" electronic calculators, Log continues to be important as it seems be an ingredient of some laws of nature. Effort to find Log as a chapter in NCERT syllabi (9th, 10th, 11th & 12th) would go in vain. If one tries hard enough then one finds the mention of Logarithmic series in the appendix of class 11th Mathematics. One wonders if there in no Log in class 11th or earlier then how can there be Logarithmic series in appendix? After all shouldn't Log be taught first? A search of word Log does not show anywhere else in class 11th portion. But then shouldn't Log be there in class 11th (or earlier)? After all there are so many applications in quadratic expressions & equations that are based on Log, so many problems related to domain & range based on Log, concept of pH, Henderson's equation for buffer solutions, work done in an isothermal process by an ideal gas etc. All the topics mentioned above are in class 11th portion. Finally, one can find Log in class 12th syllabus inside, "Continuity & Differentiability" which is after, "Functions". To get a feel of functions, it is necessary that students get into graphing but if NCERT is to be followed then graphs of Log cannot be understood properly when graphs of most standard and special functions are discussed. A simple and widely used topic Log must be introduced in early class formally and not so late. In fact in the past it was introduced before class 11th and it makes sense as students are introduced to pH before class 11th level.

NCERT should include Log in earlier class in future but at the moment, teachers should consider it including in 11th portion if not earlier.