Ideas in Chemistry: A History of the Science

by David M. Knight

In this unconventional history of chemistry, David Knight takes the refreshing view that the science has "its glorious future behind it." Today, chemistry is primarily a service science. In its very long history, though, chemistry has taken on very different roles. It has been the esoteric preoccupation of alchemists, the source of mechanist views of matter, the cornerstone of all other sciences and medicine, an archetype of experimental science, a science of revolutions, a science that imposed order on the material world, and a partner for physics, biology, and technology. Through all these past lives, chemistry has absorbed ideas--from artisans, from other sciences, from philosophy, from its social and cultural matrix--and generated its own concepts to pass back to the rest of the world. Rather than writing a survey of chemistry's triumphs, Knight covers the course of its intellectual and institutional history through carefully chosen episodes that display the complex mix of experiment, theory, application, social attitude, tradition, luck, and human quirkiness that have shaped chemistry's changing character. This delightfully written book should engage the attention of anyone interested in the interplay of science and ideas, whether a general reader, a student, a scientist, or historian of science.

Genres: Science

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

David Marcus Knight was a science historian.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the major developments in chemistry from its beginnings in alchemy, to its modern role in science and the world. This is not a survey of major chemical ideas and discoveries as its title seems to imply, though many of these ideas and discoveries are covered. Instead, it attempts to break chemistry up into different eras which were guided by different ideas about what chemistry was about (alchemy, deduction, experimentation, etc.). This way of conveying the history is effective and gives shape to what would otherwise be a mass of facts and personalities.

This book is most profitably read if you have some experience with chemistry (I'm not sure why you'd read the book otherwise!) but does not require much technical knowledge. I work as an electrical engineering and my exposure to chemistry is only through osmosis, but I was able to follow almost everything in the book.