Cathedrals of Science: The Personalities and Rivalries That Made Modern Chemistry
by Patrick Coffey
Book Summary Information
Author: Patrick CoffeyEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-29
ISBN: 0195321340
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of Cathedrals of Science: The Personalities and Rivalries That Made Modern Chemistry
Book Review: The story of Lewis and Langmuir
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a physical chemistry faculty member at Berkeley, in the chemistry department that G. N. Lewis built, and I am also the recipient of the 2005 Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics. So understandably, I am interested in learning about these two towering and competing figures. Coffey's book is about these two men and a few others who contributed to creating the field of physical chemistry during the first half of the 20th century. His descriptions of scientific principles are vivid and accurate, and his stories about Lewis and Langmuir are fascinating. In view of the former, I trust the accuracy of the latter. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of science in general, and the history of physical chemistry in particular.
Summary of Cathedrals of Science: The Personalities and Rivalries That Made Modern Chemistry
In Cathedrals of Science, Patrick Coffey describes how chemistry got its modern footing-how thirteen brilliant men and one woman struggled with the laws of the universe and with each other. They wanted to discover how the world worked, but they also wanted credit for making those discoveries, and their personalities often affected how that credit was assigned. Gilbert Lewis, for example, could be reclusive and resentful, and his enmity with Walther Nernst may have cost him the Nobel Prize; Irving Langmuir, gregarious and charming, "rediscovered" Lewis's theory of the chemical bond and received much of the credit for it. Langmuir's personality smoothed his path to the Nobel Prize over Lewis.Coffey deals with moral and societal issues as well. These same scientists were the first to be seen by their countries as military assets. Fritz Haber, dubbed the "father of chemical warfare," pioneered the use of poison gas in World War I-vividly described-and Glenn Seaborg and Harold Urey were leaders in World War II's Manhattan Project; Urey and Linus Pauling worked for nuclear disarmament after the war. Science was not always fair, and many were excluded. The Nazis pushed Jewish scientists like Haber from their posts in the 1930s. Anti-Semitism was also a force in American chemistry, and few women were allowed in; Pauling, for example, used his influence to cut off the funding and block the publications of his rival, Dorothy Wrinch.
Cathedrals of Science paints a colorful portrait of the building of modern chemistry from the late 19th to the mid-20th century.
Scientists Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Scientists Books
Code Name: God: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Man of Scienceby Mani Bhaumik
The Crossroad Publishing Company; Published: 2008-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.81
Price in other shops:
The All American Boysby Walter Cunningham
Ibooks; Published: 2008-01-15; Paperback; Book
Out of Harm's Way: The Extraordinary True Story of One Woman's Lifelong Devotion to Animal Rescueby Terri Crisp, Samantha Glen
Pocket Books; Published: 1996-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.45
Price in other shops:
Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeysby Michael Collins
Cooper Square Press; Published: 2001-06-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.07
Price in other shops:
The Coalwood Wayby Homer Hickam
Island Books; Published: 2001-09-04; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.41
Price in other shops:
Journey through Genius: Great Theorems of Mathematicsby William Dunham
Wiley; Published: 1990-03-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.38
Price in other shops:
Steve & Meby Terri Irwin
Gallery; Published: 2008-09-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.42
Price in other shops:
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind LP: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hopeby William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer
HarperLuxe; Published: 2009-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.86
Price in other shops:
My Family and Other Animalsby Gerald Durrell
Peter Smith Publisher; Published: 1983-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $34.05
October Skyby Homer H. Hickam
Perfection Learning; Published: 1999-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.26
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atomby Graham Farmelo
Basic Books; Published: 2009-08-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.35
Price in other shops:
Entropy Demystified: The Second Law Reduced to Plain Common Senseby Arieh Ben-Naim
World Scientific Publishing Company; Published: 2008-06-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.65
Price in other shops:
Laughing Gas, Viagra, and Lipitor: The Human Stories behind the Drugs We Useby Jie Jack Li
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2006-09-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.26
Price in other shops:
Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Buckyball (Johns Hopkins Introductory Studies in the History of Science)by Trevor H. Levere
The Johns Hopkins University Press; Published: 2001-07-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.20
Price in other shops:
Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed Historyby Penny Le Couteur, Jay Burreson
Jeremy P Tarcher; Published: 2004-05-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.47
Price in other shops:
The Elements of Murder: A History of Poisonby John Emsley
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2006-09-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.27
Price in other shops:
The Quantum Ten: A Story of Passion, Tragedy, Ambition, and Scienceby Sheilla Jones
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-05-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.10
Price in other shops:
The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significanceby Eric R. Scerri
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2006-09-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.99
Price in other shops:
Molecules of Murder: Criminal Molecules and Classic Casesby John Emsley
Royal Society of Chemistry; Published: 2008-09-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Molecules That Changed the Worldby K. C. Nicolaou, Tamsyn Montagnon
Wiley-VCH; Published: 2008-03-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $41.47
Price in other shops: