Physical Chemistry from Ostwald to Pauling: The Making of a Science in America

John W. Servos

Published by Princeton University Press 1990

Physical Chemistry from Ostwald to Pauling

The Making of a Science in America

John W. Servos

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400844180

Overview
Contents

About this book

John Servos explains the emergence of physical chemistry in America by presenting a series of lively portraits of such pivotal figures as Wilhelm Ostwald, A. A. Noyes, G. N. Lewis, and Linus Pauling, and of key institutions, including MIT, the University of California at Berkeley, and Caltech. In the early twentieth century, physical chemistry was a new hybrid science, the molecular biology of its time. The names of its progenitors were familiar to everyone who was scientifically literate; studies of aqueous solutions and of chemical thermodynamics had transformed scientific knowledge of chemical affinity. By exploring the relationship of the discipline to industry and to other sciences, and by tracing the research of its leading American practitioners, Servos shows how physical chemistry was eclipsed by its own offspring--specialties like quantum chemistry.

Author / Editor information

John W. Servos is Professor of History at Amherst College.

Reviews

"Co-Winner of the 1991 Pfizer Most Outstanding Book Award, History of Science Society"

"In his careful accounting of the emergence of a new discipline at the boundaries between chemistry and physics, and of the upheaval that it wrought throughout chemistry, Servos has made his own contribution to reform, and for that reason his book deserves wide attention.... [He] illustrate[s] the fact that science is, above all, a human enterprise, shaped by personalities, communities, and institutions, as well as ideas."---Robert Friedel, Science

"Servos has shed considerable light on a key issue, the formation of new scientific disciplines, by his penetrating analysis of the rise of physical chemistry in America.... I cannot recall any other recent book in this field that has managed to combine such high standards of verbal clarity, smoothness of narrative, and sheer elegance, with intellectual rigor and extensive archival research."---Peter Morris, History of Science

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
List of Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
List of Note Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xxi
CHAPTER 1. Modern Chemistry Is in Need of Reform Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
CHAPTER 2. Physical Chemistry from Europe to America Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
CHAPTER 3. King Arthur's Court: Arthur A. Noyes and the Research Laboratory of Physical Chemistry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
CHAPTER 4. The Phase Ruler: Wilder D. Bancroft and His Agenda for Physical Chemistry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	156
CHAPTER 5. Physical Chemistry in the “New World of Science” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
CHAPTER 6. From Physical Chemistry to Chemical Physics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
CHAPTER 7. A Dissenter’s Decline Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	299
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	391