Part Belousov-- A short but troubled history of the BZ

The Belousov Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is the classical example of an oscillating reaction.  Now. But it wasn't always accepted and loved by the scientific community.

The story of the BZ starts with something we all learned/memorized in high school biology-- the Kreb's cycle. Which apparently should be properly called the Szent Györgyi - Krebs cycle  to give credit where credit is due.  This is a component of the metabolic pathway which generates energy from the acetate derived from fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Citric acid is consumed and regenerated in this cycle. 

Boris Belousov was looking to create an inorganic analog of this cycle but happened upon a chemical oscillator where the reaction turned from colorless to yellow and back.   He tried to publish this new thing, but the journals rejected it -- because it "obviously" conflicted with the second law of thermodynamics(something I can write about later).  They didn't try it themselves or they would have seen it work.  Ultimately he published the work in an obscure non-peer reviewed journal. 

It all could have ended there if it weren't for Anatol Zhabotinsky.