Creations of Fire - Chemistry's Lively History From Alchemy To The Atomic Age

Cathy Cobb, Harold Goldwhite

Basic Books

2002

496 páginas

16h 32m

ISBN-13: 9780738205946

As professors of chemistry, the authors could have approached the history of their science from a technical perspective, but they chose instead to place it within the broader framework of social, cultural, and political circumstances. Although their treatment of people and events is at the introductory level, their broad time line begins with chemistry in the Stone Age and ends with current areas of interest such as superheavy elements and the polymerase chain reaction. Along the way, the coverage includes alchemy, cold fusion, and many more popular subjects, as well as less familiar topics like the contributions of Lise Meitner and Marie Lavoisier. Several other concise histories are available (e.g., H.W. Salzberg's From Caveman to Chemist, American Chemical Society, 1991), but this book's light and often humorous style makes it especially appealing to the general reader. Recommended for both history of science and chemistry collections.