Agust Nieto-Galan argues that chemistry in the twentieth century was deeply and profoundly political. Far from existing in a distinct public sphere, chemical knowledge was applied in ways that created strong links with industrial and military projects, and national rivalries and international endeavours, that materially shaped the living conditions of millions of citizens. It is within this framework that Nieto-Galan analyses how Spanish chemists became powerful ideological agents in different political contexts, from liberal to dictatorial regimes, throughout the century. He unveils chemists' position of power in Spain, their place in international scientific networks, and their engagement in fierce ideological battles in an age of extremes. Shared discourses between chemistry and liberalism, war, totalitarianism, religion, and diplomacy, he argues, led to advancements in both fields.
A fascinating set of fiction from fact conversations between two extraordinary women. Margaret Thatcher is known to all. Dorothy Hodgkin should be: she is Britain's only female scientific Nobel Prize winner, a reward for her groundbreaking work in determining the structure of penicillin and vitamin B12. It is difficult to imagine women more different in character and political beliefs, yet their lives were closely linked: Dorothy was Margaret's tutor when the younger woman studied chemistry at Oxford University; Margaret, as Prime Minister, invited her old tutor to lunch at Chequers. The setting for the conversations is Margaret's fourth year at Oxford while she carried out research work in Dorothy's crystallography lab. They range widely over topics from socialism to sexual freedom. No one knows exactly what they did discuss, but the conversations are soundly based in the factual world of post war Britain and reflect the characters of these two very interesting women.
The essential, cornerstone book of modern environmentalism is now offered in a handsome 40th anniversary edition which features a new Introduction by activist Terry Tempest Williams and a new Afterword by Carson biographer Linda Lear.
'Overall, this collection of case studies provides an outstanding starting point for understanding the ethics of chemistry. It is an extremely important contribution to the study of chemical ethics … Ethics of Chemistry is a key resource for educators interested in integrating ethics instruction into their chemistry curricula … an important foundation for equipping students with the moral judgement and analytical skills necessary to contend with the ethical issues they are likely to face in their professional lives.'Nature Chemistry'… the book offers a general introduction to many relevant topics concerning the values, responsibilities, and judgements in (and of) chemistry. The volume could be helpful for university students and teachers or even general readers interested in the ethics of chemistry.' [Read Full Review]José Ramón Bertomeu-SánchezAmbixAlthough chemistry has been the target of numerous public moral debates for over a century, there is still no academic field of ethics of chemistry to develop an ethically balanced view of the discipline. And while ethics courses are increasingly demanded for science and engineering students in many countries, chemistry is still lagging behind because of a lack of appropriate teaching material. This volume fills both gaps by establishing the scope of ethics of chemistry and providing a cased-based approach to teaching, thereby also narrating a cultural history of chemistry.From poison gas in WWI to climate engineering of the future, this volume covers the most important historical cases of chemistry. It draws lesson from major disasters of the past, such as in Bhopal and Love Canal, or from thalidomide, Agent Orange, and DDT. It further introduces to ethical arguments pro and con by discussing issues about bisphenol-A, polyvinyl chloride, and rare earth elements; as well as of contested chemical projects such as human enhancement, the creation of artificial life, and patents on human DNA. Moreover, it illustrates chemical engagements in preventing hazards, from the prediction of ozone depletion, to Green Chemistry, and research in recycling, industrial substance substitution, and clean-up. Students also learn about codes of conduct and chemical regulations.An international team of experts narrate the historical cases and analyse their ethical dimensions. All cases are suitable for undergraduate teaching, either in classes of ethics, history of chemistry, or in chemistry classes proper.
From advice columnist Meredith Goldstein, a dazzling, romantic, and emotionally resonant YA debut about a teen science whiz in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who tries to crack the chemical equation for lasting love and instead wreaks havoc on herself and the boys in her life. For seventeen-year-old Maya, the equation for happiness is simple: a dream internship at MIT + two new science nerd friends + a perfect boyfriend = one amazing summer. Then Whit dumps her out of the blue. Maya is miserable until she discovers that her scientist mother, before she died, was conducting research on manipulating pheromones to enhance human attraction. If Maya can finish her mother’s work, maybe she can get Whit back. But when her experiment creates chaos in her love life, she realizes that maybe love and loss can’t be understood using the scientific method. Can she learn to trust the unmeasurables of love and attraction instead?
Notable features of the book include an insightful analysis of the parallel trajectories of modern chemistry and physics and the work of scientists - such as John Dalton, Michael Faraday, Hermann von Helmholtz, Marie Curie, Ernest Rutherford, Dorothy Hodgkin, and Linus Pauling - who played prominent roles in the development of both disciplines.
Human chemistry is the study of bond-forming and bond-breaking reactions between people and the structures they form. People often speak of having either good or bad chemistry together: whereby, according to consensus, the phenomenon of love is a chemical reaction. The new science of human chemistry is the study of these reactions. Historically, human chemistry was founded with the 1809 publication of the classic novella Elective Affinities, by German polymath Johann von Goethe, a chemical treatise on the origin of love. Goethe based his human chemistry on Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman's 1775 chemistry textbook A Dissertation on Elective Attractions, which itself was founded on Isaac Newton's 1687 supposition that the cause of chemical phenomena may 'all depend upon certain forces by which the particles of bodies, by some causes hitherto unknown, are either mutually impelled towards each other, and cohere in regular figures, or are repelled and recede from one another'; which thus defines life.
A new approach to teaching university-level chemistry that links core concepts of chemistry and physical science to current global challenges. Introductory chemistry and physics are generally taught at the university level as isolated subjects, divorced from any compelling context. Moreover, the “formalism first” teaching approach presents students with disembodied knowledge, abstract and learned by rote. By contrast, this textbook presents a new approach to teaching university-level chemistry that links core concepts of chemistry and physical science to current global challenges. It provides the rigorous development of the principles of chemistry but places these core concepts in a global context to engage developments in technology, energy production and distribution, the irreversible nature of climate change, and national security. Each chapter opens with a “Framework” section that establishes the topic’s connection to emerging challenges. Next, the “Core” section addresses concepts including the first and second law of thermodynamics, entropy, Gibbs free energy, equilibria, acid-base reactions, electrochemistry, quantum mechanics, molecular bonding, kinetics, and nuclear. Finally, the “Case Studies” section explicitly links the scientific principles to an array of global issues. These case studies are designed to build quantitative reasoning skills, supply the technology background, and illustrate the critical global need for the infusion of technology into energy generation. The text’s rigorous development of both context and scientific principles equips students for advanced classes as well as future involvement in scientific and societal arenas. University Chemistry was written for a widely adopted course created and taught by the author at Harvard.
