When did Louis Pasteur present his memoir on the discovery of molecular chirality to the Académie des sciences? Analysis of a discrepancy.
Louis Pasteur presented his historic memoir on the discovery of molecular chirality to the Académie des sciences in Paris on May 22nd, 1848. The literature, however, nearly completely ignores this date, widely claiming instead May 15th, 1848, which first surfaced in 1922 in Pasteur's collected works edited by his grandson Louis Pasteur Vallery-Radot. On May 21st, 1848, i.e., one day before Pasteur's presentation in Paris, his mother died in Arbois, eastern France. Informed at an unknown point in time that she was "very ill," Pasteur left for Arbois only after his presentation. Biographies of Pasteur by his son-in-law René Vallery-Radot or the grandson, and Pasteur's collected correspondence edited by the grandson are incomprehensibly laconic or silent about the historic presentation. While no definite conclusions are possible, the evidence strongly suggests a deliberate alteration of the record by the biographer relatives, presumably for fear of adverse public judgment of Pasteur for a real or perceived insensitivity to a grave family medical emergency. Such fear would have been in accord with their hagiographic portrayal of Pasteur, and the findings raise questions concerning the extent of their zeal in protecting his "demigod" image. Universal recognition of the true date of Pasteur's announcement of molecular chirality is long overdue.
Gal
Joseph
J
Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado 80262, USA. joe.gal@uchsc.edu
D000047:Academies and Institutes / Q000266:history; D001680:Biographies as Topic; D002621:Chemistry / Q000266:history*; D002910:Chronology as Topic; D049672:History, 19th Century; D008093:Literature, Modern / Q000266:history*; D010297:Paris; D013237:Stereoisomerism