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They started with four: earth, air, fire,
and water. From these basics, they sought to understand
the essential ingredients of the world. Those who could
see further, those who understood that the four were just
the beginning, were the last sorcerers -- and the world's
first chemists.
What we now call chemistry began in the
fiery cauldrons of mystics and sorcerers seeking not to
make a better world through science, but rather to make
themselves richer through magic formulas and con games.
Yet among these early magicians, frauds, and con artists
were a few far-seeing "alchemists" who used the
trial and error of rigorous experimentation to transform
mysticism into science.
By the eighteenth century the building blocks
of nature, the elements of which all matter is composed,
were on the verge of being discovered. Initially it was
not easy to determine whether a substance really was an
element. Was water just water, plain and simple? Or could
it be the sum of other (unknown and maybe unknowable) parts?
And if water was made up of other substances, how could
it be broken down into discreet, fundamental, and measurable
components?
Scientific historians generally credit the
great eighteenth-century French chemist Antoine Lavoisier
with modernizing the field of chemistry. Through his meticulous
and precise work this chaotic new field of scientific inquiry
was given order. Exacting by nature, Lavoisier painstakingly
set about performing experiments that would provide lasting
and verifiable proofs of various chemical theories. Others
would follow his lead, carefully examining, measuring, and
recording their findings.
As the field slowly progressed, another
pioneer emerged almost 100 years later. Dimitri Mendeleev,
an eccentric genius who cut his flowing hair and beard but
once a year, sought to answer the most pressing questions
that remained to chemists: Why did some elements have properties
that resembled those of others? Were there certain natural
groups of elements? And, if so, how many, and what elements
fit into them? It was Mendeleev who finally addressed all
these issues when he constructed the first Periodic Table
in the late 1800s.
But between and after Lavoisier and Mendeleev
were a host of other colorful, brilliant scientists who
made their mark on the field of chemistry. Depicting the
lively careers of these scientists and their contributions
while carefully deconstructing the history and the science,
author Richard Morris skillfully brings it all to life.
Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as a "clear and lively
writer with a penchant for down-to-earth examples"
Morris's gift for explanation -- and pure entertainment
-- is abundantly obvious. Taking a cue from the great chemists
themselves, Morris has concocted a potent combination of
the alluringly obscure and the historically momentous, spiked
with just the right dose of quirky and ribald detail to
deliver a magical brew of history, science, and personalities.
Richard Morris was the author of more
than 20 books, including 15 that explain the intricacies
of science to the general public. His books have been translated
into 11 foreign languages. Morris held a Ph.D. in physics
from the University of Nevada and was a member of the Society
for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry. He lived in San
Francisco until his death in 2003 just before the release
of this book.
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