Description
Book SynopsisNobel laureate Roald Hoffman confronts some of the major ethical controversies in chemistry today. Expertly weaving together examples from the worlds of art, literature, and philosophy, Hoffmann illustrates his uniquely accessible dialectic about the creative activity of chemists.
Table of ContentsPart One: Identity-the Central Problem 1. Lives of the Twins 2. What Are You? 3. Whirligigs 4. Fighting Reductionism 5. The Fish, the Worm, and the Molecule 6. Telling Them Apart 7. Isomerism 8. Are There Two Identical Molecules? 9. Handshakes in the Dark 10. Molecular Mimicry Part Two: The Way It Is Told 11. The Chemical Article 12. And How It Came to Be That Way 13. Beneath the Surface 14. The Semiotics of Chemistry 15. What DOES That Molecule Look Like? 16. Representation and Reality 17. Struggles 18. The Id Will Out Part Three: Making Molecules 19. Creation and Discovery 20. In Praise of Synthesis 21. Cubane, and the Art of Making It 22. The Aganippe Fountain 23. Natural/Unnatural 24. Out to Lunch 25. Why We Prefer the Natural 26. Janus and Nonlinearity Part Four: When Something is Wrong 27. Thalidomide 28. The Social Responsibility of Scientists Part Five: How, Just Exactly, Does it Happen? 29. Mechanism 30. The Salieri Syndrome 31. Static/Dynamic 32. Equilibrium and Perturbing It Part Six: A Life in Chemistry 33. Fritz Haber Part Seven: That Certain Magic 34. Catalyst! 35. Three Ways 36. Carboxypeptidase Part Eight: Value, Harm, and Democracy 37. Tyrian Purple, Woad, and Indigo 38. Chemistry and Industry 39. Athens 40. The Democratizing Nature of Chemistry 41. Environmental Concerns 42. Science and Technology in Classical Democracy 43. Anti-Plato; or, Why Scientists (or Engineers) Shouldn't Run the World 44. A Response to Worries About the Environment 45. Chemistry, Education, and Democracy Part Nine: The Adventures of a Diatomic 46. C2 In All Its Guises Part Ten: The Dualities That Enliven 47. Creation Is Hard Work 48. Missing 49. An Attribute of the Devil 50. Chemistry Tense, Full of Life? 51. Cheiron
