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Recent accounts of the chemical history of the universe have
tended to emphasize either the inorganic or the organic
aspects of chemical evolution, looking, for example, at
the nucleosynthesis of the chemical elements on the one
hand, or the origin and development of living organisms
on the other. This book takes chemistry as the central science
of all materials -- inorganic and organic -- at the molecular
level, and brings together both aspects in a clear account
of the development of ideas of chemical evolution.
This
fascinating survey covers the generation of the light chemical elements in the
Big Bang, their transformation into heavier elements in the stars, the origin
of the solar system, and the molecular evolution of minerals and organisms on
the earth. Spanning the range from nuclear chemistry and radioactivity, through
mineral and organic chemistry, to biochemistry and molecular biology, it adopts
a historical approach to show how recent research has modified and extended earlier
conclusions and conjectures. The book is essential reading for all those interested
in the development of scientific ideas on the origins of the universe, chemical
matter, and life on earth. Stephen F. Mason is Emeritus
Professor of Chemistry at King's College, London, and Honorary Research Fellow
in the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.
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