Is Water H2o? ─ Evidence, Realism and Pluralism

This book exhibits deep philosophical quandaries and intricacies of the historical development of science lying behind a simple and fundamental item of common sense in modern science, namely the composition of water as H2O. Three main phases of development are critically re-examined, covering the historical period from the 1760s to the 1860s: the Chemical Revolution (through which water first became recognized as a compound, not an element), early electrochemistry (by which water's compound nature was confirmed), and early atomic chemistry (in which water started out as HO and became H2O). In each case, the author concludes that the empirical evidence available at the time was not decisive in settling the central debates, and therefore the consensus that was reached was unjustified, or at least premature. This leads to a significant re-examination of the realism question in the philosophy of science, and a unique new advocacy for pluralism in science. Each chapter contains three layers, allowing readers to follow various parts of the book at their chosen level of depth and detail. The second major study in "complementary science", this book offers a rare combination of philosophy, history and science in a bid to improve scientific knowledge through history and philosophy of science.

Gun-Sik Park received the B.S. degree in physics education from Seoul National University in Korea and the Ph.D degree in physics from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD, in 1978 and 1989, respectively. During 1987-1995 , he worked at Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC through mega-P, Inc. In 1995, he joined Seoul National University and currently is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and also jointly with the Department of Electrical Engineering at Seoul National University. He leads the Center for THz-Bio Application Systems(2009-2018) at Seoul National University supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Korea as a Director. His service to journal editor includes Journal of Korean Physical Society (JKPS), Journal of New Physics, and electronic journal of THz Science and Technology. He serves as a topical editor for IEEE Trans. on THz Science and Technology. He serves as a technical committee member of IEEE Electron Devices Society in Vacuum Electronics since 1999. He was a conference chair for 4th IEEE International Vacuum Electronics Conference in 2003 held in Korea and is a co-chair for 34th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves in 2009 held in Korea. He is the author of over 100 journal publications in the areas of high power microwaves to terahertz waves. Dr. Park is a member of the IEEE.