Eric Scerri teaches in the chemistry department at UCLA and is one of the pioneers of the philosophy of chemistry, a subdiscipline that began to take shape in the mid 1900s.  He is the founder/editor-in-chief of the journal Foundations of Chemistry, the author/editor of 12 books and over 150 publications.  In his lecture he will discuss episodes from, “A  Tale of Seven Scientists”, a book which examines the work seven little known scientists at the borders of early 20th century atomic chemistry and physics.  These scientists include John Nicholson, Anton Van den Broek and Charles Janet.  The study is part of an ongoing project that seeks to understand priority disputes, multiple discovery and the role of minor contributors in the development of science.  The lecture will conclude with some speculations on how these studies might contribute to  attempts to understand ‘the nature of science’.