Book: Crucibles: The Story of Chemistry from Ancient Alchemy to Nuclear Fission by Bernard Jaffe
The roots of Chemistry really stretch back to ancient times. As one of the earliest practiced sciences, Chemistry has had a profound impact on the development and refinement of both scientific investigation and society as a whole. It's story is full of passion and heartbreak, political drama and overcoming social stereotypes, life and death.
Bernard Jaffe approaches the history of this great science through the lives and perspectives of a selection of important chemists. He begins with alchemists in the 1400's and ends with nuclear physicists in the 1900's.
The study of alchemy is thought to have taken root in the Western world some thousands of years BCE. Jaffe begins his tale several thousand years later with the alchemists Trevisan and Paracelsus. While many scientists today would ridicule alchemical theory as lunacy and quackery, we sometimes forget to honor the alchemists for their work and dedication to the natural world, without which, the study of chemistry (and all its resulting sciences) would never have developed. The alchemists believed that all of the natural elements were essentially the same, and that by using special techniques, one element could be converted to another (ie. mercury converted to gold). Their quest additionally involved the long-sought after elixir of life. While there were a number of alchemy quacks (Jaffe describes a few, those who took advantage of the public, and of other alchemists, and who are characterized by their tricking, lying, and stealing), some alchemists were genuine and passionate, and these individuals deserve a great deal of respect: in the face of many failures, they persisted. Out of the failures of alchemy, the intellectual community learned much about chemical techniques (many of which have evolved into techniques still used today to isolate, manipulate, and characterize compounds) and about the chemical nature of the world: discoveries which gave birth to what we today call chemistry.
Jaffe also describes the, perhaps, political nature of the study of chemistry. A great deal of the first half of this book is devoted to the overturn of the theory of phlogiston, which sparked great debates and caused a stir in the scientific community. He details the struggles of Marie Curie, prejudiced against for being a female, who overcame massive roadblocks to become one of the most influential chemists in the history of the sciences.
He discusses the discovery of Friedrich Wöhler, and the "chemicalization" of biology. And he ends with the advent of nuclear chemistry: a powerful science, which is capable of great good, and great evil. We see, when this story catches up with the modern era (or almost the modern era), that the theories of the alchemists of old are almost as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago. One of the bases of the study of alchemy is transmutation: the transformation of one element into another. Alchemists have been laughed at, dismissed, and degraded by scientists who look back on history, but they were not completely wrong about the natural world. Curie (and others) gave us radiation. Radiation, in many of its forms, can actually result in transmutation, after a nuclear fission or an electron capture reaction, for example. The alchemist's theory of transmutation holds up against modern science!
I read this book at the beginning of this past Summer, before I began my Summer general chemistry course. I would venture to say that I learned more from this book about chemistry as a science, and about its basic laws and assertions, than I did during the entire first semester of gen chem, and yet it didn't feel like I was learning at all. Jaffe presents each chapter as a sort of narrative, a chapter in the life of chemistry.
Check it out at goodreads.com
Want your own copy? Here's the Barnes & Noble link!
** Cover image from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/449625.Crucibles?from_search=true
Bernard Jaffe approaches the history of this great science through the lives and perspectives of a selection of important chemists. He begins with alchemists in the 1400's and ends with nuclear physicists in the 1900's.
The study of alchemy is thought to have taken root in the Western world some thousands of years BCE. Jaffe begins his tale several thousand years later with the alchemists Trevisan and Paracelsus. While many scientists today would ridicule alchemical theory as lunacy and quackery, we sometimes forget to honor the alchemists for their work and dedication to the natural world, without which, the study of chemistry (and all its resulting sciences) would never have developed. The alchemists believed that all of the natural elements were essentially the same, and that by using special techniques, one element could be converted to another (ie. mercury converted to gold). Their quest additionally involved the long-sought after elixir of life. While there were a number of alchemy quacks (Jaffe describes a few, those who took advantage of the public, and of other alchemists, and who are characterized by their tricking, lying, and stealing), some alchemists were genuine and passionate, and these individuals deserve a great deal of respect: in the face of many failures, they persisted. Out of the failures of alchemy, the intellectual community learned much about chemical techniques (many of which have evolved into techniques still used today to isolate, manipulate, and characterize compounds) and about the chemical nature of the world: discoveries which gave birth to what we today call chemistry.
Jaffe also describes the, perhaps, political nature of the study of chemistry. A great deal of the first half of this book is devoted to the overturn of the theory of phlogiston, which sparked great debates and caused a stir in the scientific community. He details the struggles of Marie Curie, prejudiced against for being a female, who overcame massive roadblocks to become one of the most influential chemists in the history of the sciences.
He discusses the discovery of Friedrich Wöhler, and the "chemicalization" of biology. And he ends with the advent of nuclear chemistry: a powerful science, which is capable of great good, and great evil. We see, when this story catches up with the modern era (or almost the modern era), that the theories of the alchemists of old are almost as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago. One of the bases of the study of alchemy is transmutation: the transformation of one element into another. Alchemists have been laughed at, dismissed, and degraded by scientists who look back on history, but they were not completely wrong about the natural world. Curie (and others) gave us radiation. Radiation, in many of its forms, can actually result in transmutation, after a nuclear fission or an electron capture reaction, for example. The alchemist's theory of transmutation holds up against modern science!
I read this book at the beginning of this past Summer, before I began my Summer general chemistry course. I would venture to say that I learned more from this book about chemistry as a science, and about its basic laws and assertions, than I did during the entire first semester of gen chem, and yet it didn't feel like I was learning at all. Jaffe presents each chapter as a sort of narrative, a chapter in the life of chemistry.
Check it out at goodreads.com
Want your own copy? Here's the Barnes & Noble link!
** Cover image from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/449625.Crucibles?from_search=true