Computational History of Chemistry – Part 2: Multiple Scales, from the Individual to the Global

Abstract

This article demonstrates the power of computational methods to illuminate the history of chemistry across multiple scales - from the micro-level of individual scientific careers to the macro-level of global knowledge systems and geopolitical shifts. Grounded in a tripartite framework integrating the material, semiotic, and social dimensions of chemistry, five cases are analysed. These cases reveal how computational history enables historians to corroborate established narratives while generating new questions through the interplay of digital data, computation, and mathematical models. By examining long-term patterns in substance discovery, the evolution of the periodic system, the linguistic transformation of chemical discourse, the politics of the Nobel Prize, the influence of individual chemists, and the geopolitical reconfiguration of chemical innovation, the study shows how large-scale data analysis can validate historical narratives, uncover structural patterns, test hypotheses, and generate novel research questions. The article concludes by reflecting on the epistemological and methodological implications of the computational history of chemistry, arguing that its practice does not offer definitive answers, but rather reshapes the terrain of historical inquiry - opening new pathways for understanding science as a dynamic, distributed, and historically contingent enterprise.