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It tells of Hermann Sachse's discovery in 1890 of the correct
conformational structure of cyclohexane, and of his failure to
communicate it to other organic chemists. He even made 3-D models, but
his work was rejected precisely because it required the reader to cut
out and fold a paper model. "It is not possible," wrote a reviewer, "to
write an abstract of this paper, especially since the author's
explanations are hardly understandable without models."
Sachse produced various explanations of the structure, using very hairy
trigonometry and geometry, that no chemist bothered reading. He died
three years later. The structure was not validated until 1918, and not
fully recognized until 1950.
The article concludes with:
"Know your audience, and express yourself in terms they can understand."
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