Beauty in chemistry
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Transcript of Beauty in chemistry
MARCH 2006 | VOLUME 9 | NUMBER 3 53
BOOKS & MEDIA UPDATE
Mechanics and Strengthof Materials
Vitor Dias da Silva
Springer • 2006 • 529 pp
ISBN: 3-540-25131-6
$89.95 / £54 / �69.95
This textbook gives a clear and thorough
presentation of the fundamental
principles of mechanics and strength of
materials. It provides both the theory and
applications of mechanics of materials on
an intermediate theoretical level, from
the mechanical properties through the
effects of axial load, torsion, bending, and
transverse shear to stresses and strains in
bars and continuum mechanics.
Computational Chemistryof Solid State Materials
Richard V. Dronskowski
John Wiley & Sons • 2006 • 300 pp
ISBN: 3-527-31410-5
$125 / £70 / �105
This book presents both classical and
quantum-chemical approaches to
computational methods, incorporating
many developments of the last few years.
Subtitled A Guide for Materials Scientists,
Chemists, Physicists and others, it is
written for ‘non’-theoretical readers in a
readily comprehensible style and includes
practical examples of varying difficulty.
Use of equations is minimized, focusing
on those important for experimentalists.
Materials for energyconversion devices
Charles C. Sorrell et al.
Taylor & Francis CRC Press • 2005 • 416 pp
ISBN: 0849334489
$239.95
Starting with chapters on
photoelectrochemical devices, the
properties and uses of photosensitive
materials and solar cells, this book then
focuses on thermoelectricity. It goes on
to explore chemical and nuclear energy
conversion and monitoring, including
chapters on: fast ionic conductors;
oxygen ionic conductors; high-level
radioactive waste and electrochemical
gas sensors for emission control.
It is only right that the Royal Society of Chemistry, the
instigators of this book, should seek to propagate the
sense of beauty in its subject, and Philip Ball, elegant
writer that he is, is an ideal protagonist. There is a
variety of analogous lists: some (embracing the whole
of science) have appeared prominently in national
papers; others have included the most beautiful
experiments in biology and in physics. Significantly,
perhaps, the subtitle is not ‘the most beautiful’ but the
more cautious and plain ‘beautiful’.
Ball’s criteria are set out on page 8.
He notes that other lists have
sometimes conflated ‘experiment’ with
‘discovery’, and that ‘beauty’ has been
conflated with ‘simplicity’. He accepts
that elegance and simplicity are
important, but says that there are
broader issues, such as the significance
for chemistry or for science generally.
In Ball’s view, beautiful experiments
are ‘shaped by human attributes:
invention, elegance, perseverance,
imagination, ingenuity’. By implication,
he is disinclined to favor serendipity,
finding, rather severely, little beauty in
luck alone.
Ball has a little trouble with the role of the distribution
of effort. Thus, he considers the inclusion of Lavoisier’s
series of experiments that led to his formulation of the
theory of combustion as inappropriate, for it is not a
single experiment. Yet, he is content to include the
synthesis of vitamin B12, which could hardly be more
distributed in space as well as time.
As can be suspected from the wholly personal flavor of
these criteria, Ball has allowed himself considerable
latitude in his choice, and readers will find much to carp
about over the inclusion of this experiment or that, and
the omission of another. Yet books such as these (I am
myself guilty of contributing to the genre, so my view is
biased) are fascinating when viewed as the reflections
of a thoughtful author, which Ball most certainly is.
So, what are his ten beautiful experiments? They are:
1. van Helmont’s analysis of the willow tree;
2. Cavendish’s analysis of water;
3. Curie’s isolation of radium;
4. Rutherford’s identification of the nucleus (chemistry?);
5. Seaborg’s creation of seaborgium (chemistry?);
6. Pasteur’s identification of chirality;
7. Urey and Miller’s exploration of prebiotic chemistry;
8. Bartlett’s synthesis of noble-gas compounds;
9. Woodward’s synthesis of vitamin B12;
10. Paquette’s synthesis of dodecahedrane.
I have raised my eyebrows in two cases, as can be seen.
There is a little more to each experiment than my
succinct allusion conveys, but the list will convey the
flavor – and the idiosyncrasy – of the choice. I will leave
it to others to judge the appropriateness of omissions
and inclusions: as remarked above, that
is not really the point, for we are here
to share another’s vision and insight. It
will be noticed that not everyone who
figures here has received a Nobel Prize
– even those who are eligible.
Ball writes all his books with an
engaging, erudite, and urbane style. He
is conscious, though, of the problem of
conveying chemistry to the general
public (at whom this volume is
somewhat hopefully directed). That is
especially the case with the exposition
of the synthesis of vitamin B12, for
what general reader can be expected to work through
even a dramatically abbreviated account of a total
synthesis? As such, the book will be hard going for the
general reader, but it will be a delight for any chemist.
While reading the book, I was driven to reflect on the
sheer difficulty of finding the appropriate voice to
convey chemistry to the general public. Perhaps it
simply cannot be done. This book is a brave attempt,
but I cannot think that it will be on everyone’s bedside
table. Perhaps words are not the medium of
communication in chemistry. Perhaps we should
acknowledge that, with computer graphics, we have the
ideal medium, and that, to reach the soul of others with
our passion for the subject, we should give up writing
and go for graphical images to convey our
understanding of the underworld.
TThhoouugghh hhaarrdd ggooiinngg ffoorr tthhee ggeenneerraall rreeaaddeerr aanndd hhiigghhllyy ppeerrssoonnaall iinn iittsssseelleeccttiivviittyy,, Elegant Solutions: Ten Beautiful Experiments in Chemistrypprroovviiddeess rreefflleeccttiioonnss ooff aa tthhoouugghhttffuull aauutthhoorr tthhaatt wwiillll ddeelliigghhtt cchheemmiissttss Peter Atkins | University of Oxford, UK | [email protected]
BBeeaauuttyy iinn cchheemmiissttrryy
Expert
Graduate
Undergraduate
Philip Ball
Elegant Solutions: Ten Beautiful Experiments in Chemistry
Springer • 2005 • 208 pp • ISBN: 0-85404-674-7
$39.95 / £19.95 (Royal Society of Chemistry)