Customer Reviews:
The Physics, Chemistry and History of Plutonium.......2007-07-24
In this excellent book, the author pulls no punches in describing the science of plutonium. Starting with some relevant history, he zeroes in on this new element: its discovery, its nuclear properties and its unexpected physical and chemical ones. What makes this book particularly fascinating is the fact that the author has personally known many of the scientists involved. Consequently, the reader is treated to an intimate glimpse of what some of these people were like - something that one would be less likely to get in a standard history book. The writing style is friendly, authoritative, engaging and extremely clear - a trademark of this author. Because of the technical nature of much of its content this book would likely be most enjoyed by serious science buffs and those with a technical/scientific background.
The Ninety-Fourth Element.......2007-06-18
Jeremy Bernstein is a prolific writer on physics and physicists, and mountaineering. These interests coincide with my own. I like reading his essays and books because he knows how to tell a story. In this work, he covers the history of nuclear physics from the discovery of the periodic table through today. particularly as the events lead to the 94th element, plutonium. He tells the story of the people who developed the theory and practice of nuclear fission eventually resulting in the use of the mass-239 isotope of plutonium in nuclear weapons. If you think that science is without politics, you have to read this history.
I have worked with accelerators and reactors to transform elements from one into another, doing modern-day alchemy. I can give you a recipe for turning lead into gold. However, I never paid particular attention to the process of nuclear fission. Why are the isotopes uranium-235 and plutonium-239 suited for nuclear fission? Now, following Bernstein's explanation, I understand why. Simply, the even numbed isotopes of these elements are more stable. They have a lower energy than the odd isotopes. The addition of a single neutron to the odd-mass isotopes lowers the total energy of the nucleus. The excess energy liberated in the process induces the nucleus to fission. Bernstein explains this in clear language as he does for all of the chemistry, atomic, and nuclear physics in the book.
Others have suggested that the real threat of nuclear proliferation lies in the use of highly-enriched uranium. Uranium bombs may be easier for the amateur to construct than plutonium bombs. Bernstein notes that you can buy a gram of uranium-235 from Oak Ridge for $57. For $2.4 million you could buy enough to make a bomb. Of course, Oak Ridge will not sell you that much. The author is concerned with the world-wide total of about 155 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium. That much plutonium can make a lot of nuclear weapons. There is very little good use that this stockpile can be put to. Some of it may be used to fuel nuclear reactors. However, the chemistry of plutonium is difficult and the economic feasibility of plutonium reactors is not clear. There is a National Academy of Sciences report that you can read on-line: Management and Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium: Reactor-Related Options (1995). There is no easy solution to the problem of what do to with all this plutonium.
Why can't everybody write like Bernstein ?.......2007-05-23
We've all heard about plutonium - from its use in nuclear weapons to its use in generators for satellites. But what do we know about plutonium ? Surprisingly, almost nothing. This is where this book enters. It is written in a clear, simple way. It reads like a novel. Whenever a background explanation is necessary there are at most a couple of pages with the main concepts. Why can't everybody write like Bernstein ?
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Heinrich Caro and the Creation of Modern Chemical Industry (Chemists and Chemistry)
Carsten Reinhardt , and
Anthony S. Travis
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ASIN: 0792366026 |
Book Description
Heinrich Caro (1834--1910) was the inventor of new chemical processes that in the two decades commencing in 1869 enabled BASF of Ludwigshafen, Germany, to take first place among manufacturers of synthetic dyestuffs. The cornerstones of Caro's success were his early training as calico (cotton) printer in Germany, and his employment at a chemical firm in Manchester, England. Caro was a creative research chemist, a highly knowledgeable patent specialist and expert witness, and a brilliant manager of science-based chemical technology. This first full-length scientific biography of Heinrich Caro delineates his role in the emergence of the industrial research laboratory, the forging of links between academic and industrial chemistry, and the development of modern patent law. Major chemical topics include the rise of classical organic chemistry, collaboration with Adolf Baeyer, artificial alizarin and indigo, aniline dyes, and other coal-tar products, particularly intermediates.
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Chemical Structure, Spatial Arrangement: The Early History of Stereochemistry, 1874-1914 (Studies in the History of Science)
Peter J. Ramberg
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
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ASIN: 0754603970 |
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Edwin J. Cohn and the Development of Protein Chemistry: With a Detailed Account of His Work on the Fractionation of Blood during and after World War II (Center for Blood Research)
Douglas M. Surgenor
Manufacturer: The Center for Blood Research and Harvard Medical School
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ASIN: 0674009622 |
Book Description
"Blood," Goethe observed in Faust, "is a very special juice." How special it is and how complex as well is revealed in Douglas Surgenor's Edwin J. Cohn and the Development of Protein Chemistry.
As Surgenor aptly shows, what began as a modest program in basic research at the Harvard Medical School in 1920 with the establishment of a small laboratory for the study of the physical chemistry of proteins, suddenly and quite unexpectedly took on immensely practical proportions twenty years later when the onset of World War II made requisite new sophisticated blood techniques and blood substitutes for the treatment of military casualties.
The knowledge and expertise gained by Edwin Cohn and his laboratory associates in the study of proteins, amino acids, and peptides in blood after 1920 put them in a unique position to carry out the search for new blood products. Edwin J. Cohn and the Development of Protein Chemistry discloses how the wartime emergency called into play Cohn's talents as a leader who drew together chemists, clinicians, pathologists, immunologists, and others in the attainment of a complex goal. The revolution Cohn started has still not run its course.
Product Description
Robert Burns Woodward was the star of 20th-century organic chemistry. An MIT graduate by age 19, Woodward's ingenious notions about organic synthesis and his artful methodology were astounding. He is most famed for his synthesis of vitamin B12,which he undertook with Albert Eschenmoser, and for the orbital symmetry rules he developed with Roald Hoffmann. This volume presents Woodward's most celebrated papers and lectures--including the famous Cope lecture. Insightful commentaries and rarely seen photographs are also included.
Customer Reviews:
Portrait of a legend.......2006-09-06
Nobel Prize winner Robert Burns Woodward (called 'R B' by his colleagues and students) was the greatest organic chemist of the twentieth century, a legend in his own lifetime. By the time he entered high school, he had already digested college chemistry, and his professors at MIT realised they had an exceptional person in their classes. Before he was 25, Woodward became an instructor at Harvard, and before he was 35, became a full professor. Woodward won a Nobel Prize, and would have almost certainly won another one if it were not for his untimely death. Without him, organic chemistry may have been quite different today. Even in the exalted world of Harvard faculty, he stood out as being exceptional.
Woodward was an unparalleled master in the synthesis of complex organic molecules, of the kind that have given rise to many of the necessities of modern life, including plastics and pharmaceuticals. But he looked at them as much more than practically useful entities; he synthesized them the way a Michelangelo would sculpt a David, or the way a Mozart would tie together a symphony. For him organic molecules were great architectures, and he was the greatest architect and artist in the world of molecules, whose achievements probably will never be paralleled. More than anyone else, he elevated their synthesis to the stature of an art.
This book is a testament to his astonishing skills and achievements. It contains facsimilies of all his important papers, transcripts of interviews and speeches, and rare photos of the man not seen elsewhere. These items are enlivened with rare reproductions of his handwritten notes. The interviews feature many of his colleagues and students who worked with him. They talk about his singular habits, his prodigious energy, unbelievable memory, and an attention to detail that would leave fellow chemists with their mouths wide open. For chemists, it will provide a window into the mind of a genius, who achieved feats that those before him had thought impossible. For non-chemists, the non-chemical parts of the book will give an insight into what kind of a man and scientist he was, the Einstein of his field. It should be on the shelves of every chemist who wants to know about the best that his field can produce. I am glad that a book of this quality and size is available at a reasonable price.
historical chemistry.......2001-07-25
this book is jam-packed with primary sources concerning the life and works of r.b. woodward: journal articles, unpublished speeches, photographs of the man, drafts of his papers bearing hand-written corrections. it also includes some commentary from colleagues and family. an excellent resource for anyone interested in the history and process of organic chemical (and scientific, in general) research.
Book Description
While cultural and scholarly traditions have led us to believe that war and control of nature are separate, there are many more similarities than most people might suspect. Tracing the history of chemical warfare and pest control, Edmund Russell shows how war and control of nature coevolved. Ideologically, institutionally, and technologically, the paths of chemical warfare and pest control intersected repeatedly in the twentieth century. War and Nature helps us to understand the impact of war on nature and vice versa, as well as the development of total war, and the rise of the modern environmental movement. Edmund Russell is an assistant professor in the Division of Technology, Culture, and Communication in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia. This is his first book.
Customer Reviews:
creative synthesis.......2003-05-01
In War and Nature Edmund Russell, Associate Professor of Technology, Culture, and Communication at the University of Virginia, cleverly traces the interaction between chemical warfare and pest control from World War I to the Vietnam War. His central thesis is that war and control of nature have coevolved: "the control of nature expanded the scale of war, and war expanded the scale on which people controlled nature" (p. 2). Following up on his dissertation (University of Michigan, 1993), which won the Rachel Carson Prize from the American Society for Environmental History, Russell culled a wide variety of recently declassified U.S. government documents, business publications, and contemporary books and articles. Russell finds that World Wars I and II and the Cold War forged close ties between military and scientific institutions, and efforts to maintain such links became hallmarks of the post-World War II era. Scientifically and technologically, pest control and chemical warfare each created knowledge and tools that reinforced the other (p. 4) For example, on the eve of World War I, there were few U.S. chemical companies. They manufactured primarily low-profit bulk chemicals. In contrast, Germany had the best chemical factories and schools and had the largest output of sophisticated products. Eight German companies made up almost 80 percent of the world's dyes (p. 18). However, the increased use of mustard and chlorine gas in the war boosted the demand by European allies for these chemicals from the United States. The "Chemical Warfare Service" was created within the U.S. Army to employ civilian chemists to conduct research on war gases. This research also stimulated the invention of new insecticides to deal with such menaces as the boll weevil (attacking cotton crops), house fly (spreading typhus), the San Jose scale (damaging fruit trees), and mosquitoes (spreading malaria).
The use of chemicals in warfare is not new. Interestingly, Russell points out that the first recorded use of poison gas was in 428 BC, when Spartans besieging Plataea attempted to kill its defenders by burning wood soaked in pitch and sulfur under city walls (p. 4). However, chemical warfare increased throughout the twentieth century. According to Russell, at least 90,000 people were killed in World War I by gas, and estimated 350,000 were killed by gas in World War II, not including all the victims in Hitler's gas chambers. Even these figures seem low. Russell skillfully shows through cartoons how federal entomologists and chemists used insects in their propaganda as metaphors for human enemies. One cartoon depicts a conversation between two worms, one of them exclaiming: "What! Me sabotage that guy's victory garden? What do you take me for-a Jap? (p. 100)."
The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 sought to exclude gas from warfare and define the rights of combatants. Public outrage at the use of chemicals as weapons of war continued to mount. After World War II, the Chemical Warfare Service and other chemical companies lobbied Congress vigorously, stressing the need to develop war gases as insecticides, for which increased funding was required. Noted chemists testified before Congress, claiming also that chemical and biological warfare was "more humane" than conventional warfare. According to Russell, who interviewed several of these chemists, Chief Chemical Officer William Creasy inanely argued in 1958 that 25,000 American casualties on Iwo Jima could have been avoided had the U.S. military employed chemical weapons (p. 208). Miracle "psychochemicals" were promoted, such as LSD-25 that could temporarily incapacitate troops but not permanently harm them. Russell cites a US Army propaganda film produced in 1958 in which a cat chased and caught a mouse, inhaled an unnamed gas, and then cowered from another mouse (p. 208). This publicity campaign persuaded Pentagon authorities to increase the U.S. Army's budget to $80,000,000 for chemical research.
Research to fight insects increased simultaneously with the development of chemicals to fight humans. As thousands of families moved to the suburbs in the 1950s, gardening became a popular hobby and stimulated the desire for pest control. Pesticide manufacturers such as Du Pont and Dow increased their marketing to this group of consumers, while federal crop dusting programs using DDT were initiated.
Russell shows how Rachel Carson's publication of Silent Spring in 1962 galvanized the American environmental movement, leading eventually to the ban on DDT in 1972. This immediate bestseller detailed the noxious effects of DDT on plants and animals and characterized pest control as a self-defeating form of warfare (p. 229).
Reading this book, one is struck by the immense irony of the twentieth century and the causal interaction of peace and war. Never before have so many human lives been saved (thanks to pesticides killing disease-carrying insects and increasing crop yields) and so many destroyed (mostly due to incendiaries, but also chemical weapons). Americans got better at saving lives partly because they got better at taking them, and vice versa. While War and Nature is almost too dazzling in its rich detail and sometimes a bit careless in its logic (e.g. implying that human beings should not be considered part of nature), the book breaks new ground in its connection of two traditionally disparate fields of inquiry, environmental and military history. It should be required reading in college courses in both security studies and environmental science.---Johanna Granville, Ph.D. (Stanford University)
angels and insects.......2002-10-01
World War I was just the beginning of an ongoing cultural and scientific process in which chemical based weapons were created and marketed for use against human and insect enemies. Russell reminds us that the cultural, institutional, and political evolution of twentieth century science and warfare in the United States began not with the J. Robert Oppenheimer and the physicists of Los Alamos but with chemists like James B. Conant and his colleagues at Harvard and American University, emergent corporations like Dupont and the Hooker Company, and government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture and the United States Chemical Warfare Service. With an eye for detail and a witty and readable narrative style, the author assembles scientific papers, declassified governmental and military planning documents, trade journals, and propaganda and advertising literature to reshape our understanding not only of the role of chemistry in warfare, but more importantly the reflexive nature of our understanding and relation to both technology and nature during times of peace.
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Chemistry (Trends in Science)
Keith Hutton
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 1579583598 |
Book Description
Today's fast-moving world of science will have far-reaching effects on all of our lives. Trends in Science is a series of of essential readings for anyone who wants to know more about how his or her future will be affected; as well, the series provides accessible and stimulating material for high school and college students, for researchers and librarians.
All titles in the series provide: an introductory overview of the field in the last 100 years, reviewing the past but also predicting the new developments of the future; a detailed chronology of the most important milestones; an index of key terms and concepts; biographies of the most important scientists in each field and their role in shaping their particular branch of science; a listing of important Websites, a directory of organizations, and suggestions for further reading.
Book Description
When Hitler published Mein Kampf in 1924, he held up a foreign law as a model for his program of racial purification: The U.S. Immigration Restriction Act of 1924, which prohibited the immigration of those with hereditary illnesses and entire ethnic groups. When the Nazis took power in 1933,
they installed a program of eugenics--the attempted "improvement" of the population through forced sterilization and marriage controls--that consciously drew on the U.S. example. By then, many American states had long had compulsory sterilization laws for "defectives," upheld by the Supreme Court
in 1927. Small wonder that the Nazi laws led one eugenics activist in Virginia to complain, "The Germans are beating us at our own game."
In The Nazi Connection, Stefan Kuhl uncovers the ties between the American eugenics movement and the Nazi program of racial hygiene, showing that many American scientists actively supported Hitler's policies. After introducing us to the recently resurgent problem of scientific racism, Kuhl
carefully recounts the history of the eugenics movement, both in the United States and internationally, demonstrating how widely the idea of sterilization as a genetic control had become accepted by the early twentieth century. From the first, the American eugenicists led the way with radical
ideas. Their influence led to sterilization laws in dozens of states--laws which were studied, and praised, by the German racial hygienists. With the rise of Hitler, the Germans enacted compulsory sterilization laws partly based on the U.S. experience, and American eugenists took pride in their
influence on Nazi policies. Kuhl recreates astonishing scenes of American eugenicists travelling to Germany to study the new laws, publishing scholarly articles lionizing the Nazi eugenics program, and proudly comparing personal notes from Hitler thanking them for their books. Even after the
outbreak of war, he writes, the American eugenicists frowned upon Hitler's totalitarian government, but not his sterilization laws. So deep was the failure to recognize the connection between eugenics and Hitler's genocidal policies, that a prominent liberal Jewish eugenicist who had been forced to
flee Germany found it fit to grumble that the Nazis "took over our entire plan of eugenic measures."
By 1945, when the murderous nature of the Nazi government was made perfectly clear, the American eugenicists sought to downplay the close connections between themselves and the German program. Some of them, in fact, had sought to distance themselves from Hitler even before the war. But
Stefan Kuhl's deeply documented book provides a devastating indictment of the influence--and aid--provided by American scientists for the most comprehensive attempt to enforce racial purity in world history.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting Book.......2005-02-27
This is a valuable book that explores the role of American intellectual and psuedo-scientific policies and how the played an important role in the maturation of Nazi Germany. A must read.
Average customer rating:
- This long overdue book was worth the wait!
- Fun - a good book!
- A delightful exploration of real life diversity coming together for true chemistry.
- One Awesome Read!
- Chemistry on the Court is very good!
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Chemistry on the Court: The Untold Story of a #1 Team
Mel Eaton Matuszak
Manufacturer: Pure Heart Press
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ASIN: 1930907869 |
Customer Reviews:
This long overdue book was worth the wait!.......2006-09-01
The author gives credit to Kansas State University's ONLY #1 nationally ranked basketball team while making the camaraderie and spirit of the team come alive. As a bonus and a real step-back in time, she shares what college life was like 50 years ago on the Manhattan, KS campus. (I can attest to that as I was there, too.) She dated and married one of the starters and knows his teammates. A very good read - even for non-sports fans!
Fun - a good book!.......2006-08-15
I loved hearing about "teamwork" and the innocence of those times. The underlying story of black/white players was also very interesting. I wish I'd lived in those great times when ball players played because they loved the game, not the $$.
A delightful exploration of real life diversity coming together for true chemistry........2006-08-15
[Matuszak] achieves the depths and heights of team chemistry during a time of innocence and morality. In a language of nostalgia the images of integrity, class and achivement are refreshing! How wonderful to have lived and better to have known the outstanding players of this book. How nice to be able to write about the game in it's glory day!
One Awesome Read!.......2006-08-13
Matuszak managed to write about a subject I don't know or care anything about (nor do I have any ties with Kansas State) so very touching and humorous I couldn't put the book down. I laughed and cried both while reading this wonderful account of a different time indeed; a treat to be reminded of the "good old days" which were filled with respect, honesty, integrity, etc. Unfortunately many of these great traits have been forgotten, or never learned, by the players of today. Lots of good personal stories filled with love and humor.
Chemistry on the Court is very good!.......2006-08-11
What a wonderful book! Lots of insight into the KSU basketball team and the wonderful stories behind the incredible relationships that made this team click! I was particularly interested in the underlying story of the roommates Boozer and Matuszak who were black and white -- long before Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo!
This book also encouraged me to learn more about the All American team selection process -- and the use and misuse of the "honor".
The K-State basketball story is really something...the makings of a movie!
Book Description
The turn of the century was a time of explosive growth for American cities, a time of nascent hopes and apparently limitless possibilities. In Children of the City, David Nasaw re-creates this period in our social history from the vantage point of the children who grew up then. Drawing on hundreds of memoirs, autobiographies, oral histories and unpublished--and until now unexamined--primary source materials from cities across the country, he provides us with a warm and eloquent portrait of these children, their families, their daily lives, their fears, and their dreams. Illustrated with 68 photographs from the period, many never before published, Children of the City offers a vibrant protrait of a time when our cities and our grandparents were young.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2005-12-26
This book is one of the few resources for those who want to find out something other then what Teddy Rosevelt did. Honestly I read this at least once a month. Other reviewers say it gave a veiw that the children did not feel they could change things, but they did. He devotes an entire chapter on the newsies strike, and does an unbelivablely good job of showing the fun side of this life that our history teachers and Jacob Riss tell us was horrible.
He uses Lewis Hines Photographs in the way they were ment to be, showing the world as it was. Hine did not try and hide the bright smiles and lively pouts of the children, he wanted to show this world as it was. Thorugh wonderful anecdotes from famous people like Groucho Marx Nasaw shows that while the work was hard there was more to gain then just the money.
He paints a realistic image of the world that is lost to us now.
Children of the City by, David Nasaw.......2004-10-25
In his book, Children of the City, David Nasaw writes about the struggles, poverty and literal abuse suffered by children, mainly boys, of the early 20th century. Mr. Nasaw also talks about the so-called "child savers" like Lewis Hine who worked through his camera in order to make people aware of what was happening to their children at work. Children of the City was controversial when it was published back in 1986 due to its somewhat graphic or "real" depiction of child exploitation in the turn of the century.
After reading this book I found out quite a bit more than I had known previously about child labor and how the laws came about. I had never heard of the "newsies" nor had I heard about the newsboys strike. I also had no idea what those children had to endure for pennies a day, sometimes as little as $.65 a day. It was amazing how the pictures in the book had an affect, some of them more so, than the book itself. I didn't necessarily like what he talked about but I liked how he depicted it through words and the pictures by Hine. The one thing I didn't like was how he portrayed the kids as powerless to stop the bosses and defenseless against them. I don't think the kids had a lot of self-esteem but do think they had enough in them to say something to someone.
This book gave a good picture of how life was back then for kids 9-13 or 14 at the job site. I think this book should be read by anyone wanting to find out more about the child labor laws that are in place today or by anyone wanting to read a book that makes them feel like they're there.
Children of the City.......2004-10-22
In the book Children of the City: At Work and At Play, David Nasaw brings readers into the lives of children all over America at the turn of the century. Nasaw begins by giving us a description of the area in which the children were raised-mentioning the run-down cities and tenements where the working class resided, while also being sure to briefly mention the other half of the population that lived in great wealth. Since there wasn't much room around their houses, most middle class children simply played in the streets-gambling, playing baseball or kick the can, etc. The book discusses in great depth, and with great historical accurateness, what life was like during this time period-the school, the job and the home life. Nasaw paints a picture for us-vividly letting us experience life right along with these children as we turn the pages of his book.
I know that prior to this book my knowledge concerning this subject was quite minimal. However, after completing it, I feel much more comfortable with the material. I think Nasaw did a great job of conveying a broad array of information through various statistics, facts, pictures and inserted passages. The book was informative, but somehow not boring. Sometimes, it's hard to find historical books that capture our attention. This was a rare exception-it appeals to our emotions as we read the accounts of rough life that such small children had to face each day. The book Children of the City helps us get to know the children of that age a little better. They lived more then a century before us and experienced life in a completely different realm. This may be hard for us to understand because the way we live our lives is so different-easier in a sense, but harder at the same time.
The Real Lives of Children?.......2000-06-16
Controversial, yet remarkable look at how young children, primarily boys, resisted and re-made the conditions of their existence in early 20th century U.S. cities. His chronicle of the newsboys' strike is vital history. The book is more controversial when discussing the actions of the so-called 'child-savers,' one of whom actually included social activist photographer Lewis Hine. He dismisses the action of these advocates as puritanical and fundamentally ignorant of the real conditions of the children's lives. He decides that children are neither powerless nor defenseless, and this decision is, of course, a double-edged sword when dealing with the very real abuses of child labor and child exploitation that still pervade the U.S. and the globe.
A must read for "Newsies" fans.......1999-02-23
Nasaw's _Children of the City_ is a wonderful glimpse into the lives of children at the turn of the century. If you are doing research on the 1899 newsboys' strike, READ THIS BOOK. It is a huge help in understanding why the newsies did what they did.
Books:
- Practical HPLC Method Development, 2nd Edition
- Practical HPLC Method Development, 2nd Edition
- Protein NMR Spectroscopy: Principles and Practice
- Protein NMR Spectroscopy: Principles and Practice
- Quantitative Chemical Analysis
- Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness
- Quantum Many Particle Systems (Advanced Book Classics)
- Radio Control Foam Modelling
- Schaum's Outline of College Chemistry
- Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence, 3d Edition
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Redeeming Love
- Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior
- Far Tortuga: A Novel
- Four Hungry Kittens
- Journey of an Art Quilter: Creative Strategies and Techniques
- History of Life
- Information Theory, Inference & Learning Algorithms
- The Elkhorn Slough and Moss Landing
- James I
- How Come, I'm Still Here
The Grid: A Journey Through the Heart of Our Electrified World
Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science
Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race
Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons
Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics
