Strictly speaking, knowledge for every object in educational Universe is limited by ignorance or, in other words, these two components co-exist. However, pedagogy primarily deals with knowledge, its acquisition and retention. It ignores the ignorance, leaving it as a subject for a more generic science of psychology. Similarly, atomic nuclei in real Universe are a subject for a more generic science of physics, being only slightly studied in chemistry. To research on knowledge is by far easier than on ignorance, same as chemical research involving mere electron shells is easier than physical research targeting atomic nuclei.

Being of didactic and axiological potential, eponyms are important for science education, in particular for implementing the principles of humanization and historicism. Reviewing literature for dictionary of chemical eponyms, an unusual publication on teaching chemistry was found. It contained a number of self-introduced eponyms, no one of them is in use nowadays. Implications of the time the book was published at, ethnocentrism in education are discussed. Keywords: chemical eponyms, laboratory equipment, chemistry teaching, Verkhovsky, ethnocentrism.

Conducting research in science education, the authors of the Journal of Baltic Science Education surely remember eponyms in school subjects and university courses. Eponym is a term that includes the name of the person, who discovered a species (biology), explored a glacier (geography), synthesized a compound (chemistry), formulated a law (physics), invented a device (engineering), proved a theorem (mathematics), treated or suffered a disease (medicine), etc. Most chemists and chemistry teachers know, e.g., such eponyms as Avogadro number, Wurtz reaction, Mendeleev table, Liebig condenser, Claisen adapter, Berthollet salt, asf. Eponyms are a relatively new domain of scientific terminology: they first appeared in the 19th century, when the development of science and technology grew rapidly, and scientists decided to honor brilliant colleagues, attaching their names to the discoveries they made. Before this, scientists used words from national and Latin languages to name discovered phenomena.

Chemical eponyms possess important didactic and axiological potential that can be utilized for implementation of the principles of humanization and historicism manifested in national educational standards. This study focused on students’ knowledge and views of eponyms in the light of history of science. 22 general chemistry students of Belarusian State University, 131 students of general and 119 students of organic chemistry of University of Oregon, all different majors, were surveyed on their knowledge and views of eponyms using a 24-item online questionnaire. Mann-Whitney coefficients were calculated to establish significant differences and Pearson chi-square test was applied to find correlations. It was found that students’ knowledge and views of eponyms are defined mostly by major: students majoring in teaching chemistry showed higher knowledge and expressed more positive views of eponyms than those majoring in non-teaching, non-chemistry and especially non-science. Other factors include students’ learning experience and study intensiveness. While didactic potential of eponyms is utilized anyway, utilization of their axiological potential depends on instructor’s willingness and mastery and should not be exaggerated as vehicles for the principles of humanization and historicism. Keywords: chemical education, chemical eponym, named reaction, humanization, historicism, history of science.

A lot has been researched on and published about applying analogies in teaching science. The content being complex, often abstract, and difficult for understanding, analogy comes as an effective tool to catch the essence. In brief, using an analogy for explanation of something unfamiliar new, we take something familiar old and establish connections between the two (Sarantopoulous & Tsaparlis, 2004).