Cathedrals of Science: The Personalities and Rivalries That Made Modern Chemistry PDF
Preview Cathedrals of Science: The Personalities and Rivalries That Made Modern Chemistry
Cathedrals of Science This page intentionally left blank CATHEDRALS OF SCIENCE The Personalities and Rivalries That Made Modern Chemistry Patrick Cof ey 1 2008 3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With off ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2008 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Coffey, Patrick. Cathedrals of science / the personalities and rivalries that made modern chemistry / Patrick Coffey. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-532134-0 1. Discoveries in science. 2. Chemical weapons. 3. Chemists—Psychology. 4. Langmuir, Irving, 1881–1957. 5. Lewis, Gilbert Newton, 1875–1946. 6. Science—Moral and ethical aspects. 7. Chemistry—History—20th century. I. Title. Q180.55.D57C64 2008 540—dc22 2007048304 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To Ellen This page intentionally left blank Contents Prologue xi 1 The Ionists: Arrhenius and Nernst 3 2 Physical Chemistry in America: Lewis and Langmuir 38 3 The Third Law and Nitrogen: Haber and Nernst 71 4 Chemists at War: Haber, Nernst, Langmuir, and Lewis 95 5 The Lewis-Langmuir Theory: Lewis, Langmuir, and Harkins 121 6 Science and the Nazis: Nernst and Haber 151 7 Nobel Prizes: Lewis and Langmuir 175 8 Nuclear Chemistry: Lewis, Urey, and Seaborg 208 9 The Secret of Life: Pauling, Wrinch, and Langmuir 239 10 Pathological Science: Langmuir 269 11 Lewis’s Last Days 293 Epilogue 317 vii Sources and Acknowledgments 324 Suggested Reading 327 Endnotes 330 Index 363 viii CONTENTS There are ancient cathedrals which, apart from their consecrated purpose, inspire solemnity and awe. Even the curious visitor speaks of serious things, with hushed voice, and as each whisper reverberates through the vaulted nave, the returning echo seems to bear a message of mystery. The labor of generations of architects and artisans has been forgotten, the scaffolding erected for the toil has long since been removed, their mistakes have been erased, or have become hidden by the dust of cen- turies. Seeing only the perfection of the completed whole, we are impressed as by some superhuman agency. But sometimes we enter such an edif ce that is still partly under construction; then the sound of hammers, the reek of tobacco, the trivial jests bandied from workman to workman, enable us to realize that these great structures are but the result of giving to ordinary human effort a direction and a purpose. Science has its cathedrals, built by the efforts of a few architects and many workers. . . . —Gilbert Newton Lewis, from the preface to Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances
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