The Elements: A Visual History of Their Discovery

Philip Ball

Published by University of Chicago Press 2021

The Elements

A Visual History of Their Discovery

Philip Ball

https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226776002

Overview
Contents

About this book

From water, air, and fire to tennessine and oganesson, celebrated science writer Philip Ball leads us through the full sweep of the field of chemistry in this exquisitely illustrated history of the elements.

The Elements is a stunning visual journey through the discovery of the chemical building blocks of our universe. By piecing together the history of the periodic table, Ball explores not only how we have come to understand what everything is made of, but also how chemistry developed into a modern science. Ball groups the elements into chronological eras of discovery, covering seven millennia from the first known to the last named. As he moves from prehistory and classical antiquity to the age of atomic bombs and particle accelerators, Ball highlights images and stories from around the world and sheds needed light on those who struggled for their ideas to gain inclusion. By also featuring some elements that aren’t true elements but were long thought to be—from the foundational prote hyle and heavenly aetherof the ancient Greeks to more recent false elements like phlogiston and caloric—The Elements boldly tells the full history of the central science of chemistry.

Author information

Philip Ball is a freelance writer and broadcaster whose many books on the interactions of the sciences, the arts, and the wider culture include Bright Earth: The Invention of Color, Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything, Patterns in Nature: Why the Natural World Looks the Way It Does, How to Grow a Human: Adventures in How We Are Made and Who We Are, and, most recently, The Modern Myths: Adventures in the Machinery of the Popular Imagination, all also published by the University of Chicago Press.He lives in London.

Reviews

“Ball has once again produced a terrific book, one that presents a tremendous amount of the history of chemistry in a manner that is engagingly written, beautifully illustrated, and conscientious about avoiding the usual traps of popular science: triumphalism, a Eurocentric and male bias, and a reliance on just-so stories that are inadequately supported by the evidence. I cannot think of another popular history of chemistry I have so enjoyed reading.”

— Michael D. Gordin, author of "On the Fringe: Where Science Meets Pseudoscience"

Topics

General Interest

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	1
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	5
INTRODUCTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	6
THE PERIODIC TABLE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	10
Chapter One: The Classical Elements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
Chapter Two: The Antique Metals Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	30
Chapter Three: Alchemical Elements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
Chapter Four: The New Metals Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
Chapter Five: Chemistry’s Golden Age Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
Chapter Six: Electrical Discoveries Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
Chapter Seven: The Radiant Age Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	168
Chapter Eight: The Nuclear Age Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	190
SOURCES FOR QUOTES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	218
FURTHER READING Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	220
PICTURE CREDITS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222

Language: English
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 224
Illustrations
- Other: 200 color plates
Keywords: science; experiments; organic; chemistry; ap; physics; periodic; table; learn; illustrated; photography; molecule; exploration; atom; universe; tabla; periodica; elementos

eBook

Published: September 27, 2021
ISBN: 9780226776002