Candid Science: Conversations with Famous Chemists

by Istvan Hargittai, Magdolna Hargittai, George Porter

Overview

In this book, 36 famous chemists, including 18 Nobel laureates, tell about their lives in science, the beginnings of their careers, their aspirations, and their hardships and triumphs. The reader will learn about their seminal discoveries, and the conversations in the book bring out the humanity of these great scientists. NMR spectroscopy, computational chemistry, the drama of buckminsterfullerene, the story of the Pill, the politics of atmospheric chemistry and the resonance theory, the beginnings of molecular mechanics and modern stereochemistry are examples of the topics discussed first-hand by, in all likelihood, the most appropriate persons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781860942280
Publisher:	Imperial College Press
Publication date:	01/28/2000
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.70(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

	Foreword	v
	Preface	vii
	Linus Pauling	2
	The Great Soviet Resonance Controversy	8
	Erwin Chargaff	14
	Quotable Chargaff	29
	Frank H. Westheimer	38
	Gertrude B. Elion	54
	Carl Djerassi	72
	Paul J. Scheuer	92
	Ayhan Ulubelen	114
	John W. Cornforth	122
	Quotable Cornforth	135
	Vladimir Prelog	138
	Derek H. R. Barton	148
	Odd Hassel	158
	Michael J. S. Dewar	164
	John A. Pople	178
	Roald Hoffmann	190
	Kenichi Fukui	210
	Milton Orchin	222
	F. Albert Cotton	230
	The Beginnings of Multiple Metal-Metal Bonds	246
	Herbert C. Brown	250
	George A. Olah	270
	John D. Roberts	284
	Richard R. Ernst	294
	Eiji Osawa	308
	Elena G. Gal'pern and Ivan V. Stankevich	322
	Harold W. Kroto	332
	The Fuller Connection	358
	Richard E. Smalley	362
	Robert F. Curl	374
	Wolfgang Kratschmer	388
	Robert L. Whetten	404
	Philip E. Eaton	416
	R. Stephen Berry	422
	What Turned You to Chemistry?	436
	Kenneth S. Pitzer	438
	F. Sherwood Rowland	448
	Nikolai N. Semenov	466
	George Porter	476
	Ahmed H. Zewail	488
	Name Index	509