The Story of Chemistry by Anirban Hazra - design by Madhuvanti Anantharajan (2006).pdf - Chemia dla amatorów - Shifan

The Story of

Chemistry

Anirban Hazra

Design: Madhuvanti Anantharajan

Pune, India, 2006

Preface

The Story of Chemistry is about the development of chemistry from

antiquity, to the modern science it is today. Our aim is to make the

history of chemistry accessible to a wide audience, including school

students and non-specialists. We hope our readers enjoy the informal

and graphic presentation of the book.

In the interest of lucidity, we have taken certain liberties in the

layout of the book. For example, text in quotation marks associated

with a scientist may not be verbatim quotes, but rather, a simplified

presentation of the idea. Readers can follow up this book with more

academically rigorous works like The Historical Background of

Chemistry by Henry M. Leicester.

The design, illustrations, layout and digitization of the book have

been done by Madhuvanti Anantharajan. My discussions, debates,

agreements and disagreements with her have, in my opinion,

contributed greatly to improving the quality of the book. I am grateful

to her for being a fantastic partner in this project.

Our book would not have been possible without the generosity

and help of several people. Arvind Gupta at the Science Centre at the

Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) has

been the major driving force for this project. He participated actively at

every stage, right from conceptualisation to editing. Moreover, he

provided all possible logistical support for the project – introducing

the author and illustrator, arranging funding and interacting with the

publisher – which allowed us to focus on the writing and design of the

book without having to worry about anything else. The book would

not have happened without him.

We are grateful to the Science Centre at IUCAA, where most of

the work was carried out. We thank Vidula Mhaiskar, Ashok Rupner,

Samir Dhurde and Arvind Paranjpye for their support, and for staying

back late on several occasions to allow us to work. An added thank

you to Vidula for her help with the illustrations and the periodic table

at the end of this book.

We thank Awanti Seth Rabenhøj, N. Madhavan, Venu Govindu,

Sonali Shah and Amrita Hazra for editing the book and suggesting

improvements.

My parents, both scientists, have been a constant source of

encouragement and have provided valuable inputs for the book. Also,

from a very early age, they have inculcated in me and interest and

excitement for chemistry.

We thank Jamshedji Tata Trust for financial support for preparing

the manuscript of the book.

Pune, India, 2006

Anirban Hazra

The Story of Chemistry

Chemistry

is happening all around us!

The sun gives us light and

heat, trees grow, animals eat food to produce

energy and dead matter rots. All these are

chemical processes. Thousands of chemical

reactions are happening in our own bodies

all the time – digestion, seeing with our

eyes, feeling with our fingers, growing,

getting old – each of these involves many

many chemical processes.

Though these processes have been around for millions

of years, it is only quite recently that we have begun

to understand them the way we do today. The science

which seeks such understanding is

which seeks such understanding is CHEMISTRY

CHEMISTRY.

Chemistry is the

science of

matter

– the science dealing

with the composition

and properties of

substances, and the

changes they undergo.

is happening all around us!

is happening all around us! The sun gives us light and