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The Art of Chemistry: Myths, Medicines, and Materials
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 540.9
EAN: 9780471071808
ISBN: 0471071803
Label: Wiley-Interscience
Manufacturer: Wiley-Interscience
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: December 09, 2002
Publisher: Wiley-Interscience
Studio: Wiley-Interscience
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Editorial Review:
A fascinating collection of the pictures, figures, and diagrams that chemists create to explain their craft
In A Chemical History Tour, Arthur Greenberg took readers on a wild romp through the history of chemistry, introducing the unique characters, sometimes bizarre theories, and novel experiments that ultimately produced the modern science. Now Greenberg returns with more tales of chemistry glory, lovingly chronicling the extraordinary artwork that alchemists and chemists have produced in their pursuit of understanding the nature of matter in The Art of Chemistry: Myths, Medicines, and Materials.
The Art of Chemistry employs 187 figures (including 16 full-color plates) to illuminate 72 essays on the mythical origins, wondrous experiments, and adventurous explorers in the annals of chemistry. Greenberg divides his delightful study into eight sections:
* Spiritual and Mythological Roots
* Stills, Cupels, and Weapons
* Medicines, Purges, and Ointments
* An Emerging Science
* Two Revolutions in France
* A Young Country and a Young Theory
* Specialization and Systemization
* Some Fun
Each section tracks chemistry's incremental progress from myth to modern science, featuring the figures and diagrams that early chemists used to explain their craft. Along the way, readers will meet the deadly basilisk and the fabulous phoenix that populated the lore of pre-modern chemistry, learn the contributions to chemistry of the American natural philosopher Benjamin Franklin, and encounter Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry and perhaps France's greatest economist.
Greenberg also examines our fundamental connections with science through two personal essays, one on an adolescent friend who improbably (but perhaps inevitably) became a world-renowned entomology professor and the other on his quest to discover his own chemical heritage. The Art of Chemistry is sure to inform and entertain anyone interested in our eternal quest to know the natural world.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - More Laughs---Chemical Heritage magazine
Colin Russell once made a television film for the UK's Open University in which he demonstrated some of Edward Frankland's work in a mock-up laboratory built in the studio. Under the powerful studio lights, and in the film itself, the glass apparatus gleamed seductively, leading me to reflect on the wonderfully photogenic nature of chemistry. The visual appeal and power of alchemical paintings, symbols and emblems was elegantly captured by John Read over 50 years ago in his splendid book, The Alchemist ... Read More
Rating: - Outstanding essays on the history and nature of chemistry
The Art Of Chemistry: Myths, Medicines And Materials by Arthur Greenberg (Department of Chemistry, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire) is an impressive, scholarly compilation of 72 outstanding essays on the history and nature of chemistry, ranging from myths about the origins of this fascinating area of science, down to great watershed experiments performed by dedicated pioneers in the field of chemistry. An informed and informative history which ... Read More
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