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The Last Sorcerers: The Path from Alchemy to the Periodic Table, by Richard Morris
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They started with four: earth, air, fire, and water. From these basics, they sought to understand the essential ingredients of the world. Those who could see further, those who understood that the four were just the beginning, were the last sorcerers â€" and the world’s first chemists.
What we now call chemistry began in the fiery cauldrons of mystics and sorcerers seeking not to make a better world through science, but rather to make themselves richer through magic formulas and con games. But among these early magicians, frauds, and con artists were a few far-seeing “alchemists†who, through rigorous experimentation, transformed mysticism into science.
By the 18th century the building blocks of nature, the elements of which all matter is composed, were on the verge of being discovery. Initially, it was not easy to determine whether a substance really was an element. Was water just water, plain and simple? Or could it be the sum of other (unknown and maybe unknowable) parts? And if water was made up of other substances, how could it be broken down into discreet, fundamental, and measurable components?
Scientific historians generally credit the great 18th century French chemist Antoine Lavoisier with addressing these fundamental questions and ultimately modernizing the field of chemistry. Through his meticulous and precise work this chaotic new field of scientific inquiry was given order. Exacting by nature, Lavoisier painstakingly set about performing experiments that would provide lasting and verifiable proofs of various chemical theories. Unfortunately, the outspoken Lavoisier eventually lost his head in the Terror, but others would follow his lead, carefully examining, measuring, and recording their findings.
As the field slowly progressed, another pioneer was to emerged almost 100 years later. Dimitri Mendeleev, an eccentric genius who cut his flowing hair and beard but once a year, sought to answer the most pressing questions that remained to chemists: Why did some elements have properties that resembled those of others? Were there certain natural groups of elements? And, if so, how many, and what elements fit into them? It was Mendeleev who finally addressed all these issues when he constructed the first Periodic Table in the late 1800s.
But between and after Lavoisier and Mendeleev were a host of other colorful, brilliant scientists who made their mark on the field of chemistry. Depicting the lively careers of these scientists and their contributions while carefully deconstructing the history and the science, author Richard Morris skillfully brings it all to life. Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as a “clear and lively writer with a penchant for down-to-earth examples†Morris’s gift for explanation â€" and pure entertainment â€" is abundantly obvious. Taking a cue from the great chemists themselves, Morris has brewed up a potent combination of the alluringly obscure and the historically momentous, spiked with just the right dose of quirky and ribald detail to deliver a magical brew of history, science, and personalities.
- Sales Rank: #1375077 in Books
- Published on: 2003-10-10
- Format: International Edition
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .90" h x 5.96" w x 8.26" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 294 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Though the stories in this volume have been told before in other books, Morris (The Evolutionists; Time's Arrow) manages to make the history of the periodic table's conception fresh and quirky one more time. He does this by focusing his narrative on the early alchemists, who were among the first scientists to investigate the composition of metals and who were widely perceived to be near-sorcerous practitioners of mysterious arts. Bernard of Treves, for one, squandered his life and money questing for the secret that would turn ordinary metals into gold. Another alchemist, Paracelsus, was the first to use the word "chemistry," though his egomania and his devotion to the truth earned him nothing but trouble. Hennig Brandt collected buckets of human urine trying to make gold and instead ended up producing phosphorus. In Morris's account, even Robert Boyle, "generally considered to be the founder of modern chemistry," was an alchemist. It wasn't until the 18th century, Morris writes, that "alchemy was supposedly superceded by chemistry." Thus the more familiar legends of chemistry-featuring scientists like Humphrey Davy, Joseph Priestly and Antoine Lavoisier-appear later in this volume, which recounts the formation of our basic ideas about chemical compounds, elements and molecules. Dimitri Mendeleev, the organizer of the periodic table, gets special treatment. Morris finishes up this delightful tale of science history by sweeping through the 20th century chemists whose discoveries were beyond the wildest imaginings of the ancient Greeks, but who still couldn't make gold from lead.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"...a fascinating read... well-written popular science, and as such deserves to be widely read." -- Nature, January 1, 2004
"...rife with rich stories and wacky characters. This book puts fun into the fundamentals of chemistry." -- East Oregonian, November 9, 2003
"A potpourri of eccentric, foolhardy, strange, and even law-breaking geniuses and near-geniuses populate these pages." -- Choice, April 2004
"In this lively chronology, Morris introduces these scores of others who shaped chemistry." -- Science News, January 24, 2004
"The book is easy to read even for nonchemists..." -- Chemical & Engineering News, October 6, 2003
"This book is written to present the history of chemistry as a voyage of discovery. It makes excellent reading." -- Books-on-Line
"[A] lively account of how rigorous experimentation led from mysticism to science..." -- Nob Hill Gazette, January 2004
From the Inside Flap
"By distilling weird but wondrous human chemistry, Richard Morris has brought forth—like a sorcerer—the enchanting drama of an awesome scientific saga."
-- Dudley Herschbach, winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry
"As an introduction to the evolution of chemistry, it would be hard to beat Richard Morris's The Last Sorcerers. Erudite and entertaining, I enjoyed every page."
-- Michael White, co-author of Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science
"An intriguing look at the development of the chemical knowledge of atoms and elements which parallels the even more astonishing discoveries of recent years -- by physicists -- of the world within the atom. Interesting, informative and eminently readable."
-- Penny Le Couteur, author of Napoleon's Buttons: How Seventeen Molecules Changed History
"The struggle to understand the material world started with the ancient Greeks, who believed everything consisted of earth, air, fire, and water, and ended 2500 years later with the discovery of the chemical elements, the periodic table, and the structure of atoms. Along the way those shadowy figures, the much misunderstood alchemists of the Middle Ages, struggled with the problem, but with little success. Morris tells all these stories in a well-researched book that is both informative and a delight to read, with lots of amusing and dramatic anecdotes about those who finally brought us to our present state of knowledge."
-- John Emsley, author of The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorus and Molecules at an Exhibition
"It's our journey from magic to molecules. It may explain why people still approach chemists asking, "Hey, can you blow something up?""
-- Bill Nye the Science Guy
"An entertaining romp through the maverick lives of great chemists and physicists, from the pioneers of chemistry who transcended their roots in alchemy to the atomic physicists who finally accomplished the alchemists' dream of transmuting matter."
-- Nick Lane, author of Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World
"An enjoyable and accessible tour through the distant mirror of alchemy, and the discoveries of the chemical elements, atomic, subatomic and quantum theories, emphasizing personalities of the scientists in their historical contexts."
-- Dr. Arthur Greenberg, Dean of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of New Hampshire and author of The Art of Chemistry
Most helpful customer reviews
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
The tortuous path from superstition to mystery
By Theodore A. Rushton
In a world of leptons, quarks, muons, superstrings, 10 dimensions of space and an 11-dimensional theory called M theory -- it is hard to remember the electron was discovered just over a century ago.
English physicist J.J. Thompson discovered the electron in 1897; since then, there has been an explosion of discoveries. For thousands of years, chemists thought of the world consisted of earth, air, fire and water. It was a theory offered by Empedocles, who lived about 2,500 years ago and was said to be able to control the winds and restore life to a woman who had been dead for 30 days. Once Aristotle endorsed the idea, chemists were stuck with it for nearly two and one-half millennia.
Logically, if everything consists of four basic elements -- then, by properly mixing it would be possible to make gold and every other useful item. For example, when mercury ore was heated, a pool of liquid metal was formed. Transformations took place when substances were heated, dissolved, melted, filtered, and crystallized. The key was discovering the proper mixture of the four elements, then keep it secret.
Mix tin and copper and the result was bronze, better than both tin and copper and looking a lot like gold. Wise men would have been foolish not to pursue such a promising start. However, it was a dead-end road, even though the ancients had endorsed it.
Secrecy was the second crucial ingredient. Alchemists realized if everyone knew the secret of making gold, the social impact would be catastrophic. As a result, every alchemist literally began work based on zero knowledge of what works and what doesn't. Bad ideas were never rejected, good ideas were never shared.
It took some real rebels, weirdos and geeks to upset more than two thousand years of error. One of the earliest was Paracelsus; the name he gave himself meant "greater than Celsus," a deservedly famous first century AD Roman physician. Paracelsus, according to one of his contemporaries, "lived like a pig and looked like a sheep drover. He found his greatest pleasure among the company of the most dissolute rabble, and spent most of his time drunk." This is the type of man who first questioned the wisdom of the ages.
In an age when religious fundamentalism is becoming ever more terrible, Morris presents a fascinating story of how scientists went from absolute certainty about the world to tenuous uncertainty. It wasn't too long ago that scientists were looking ever deeper into the furthest reaches of the universe; within the past decade, they have discovered that 96 percent of the universe is invisible and for all intents and purposes unknown.
Science is the process of uncertainty. It's a lonely, dangerous path of inquiry to follow. The English condemned the man who discovered oxygen as a dangerous radical; the French guillotined the leading scientist of his era, because he didn't fit in with the certainties of revolutionary France; the Russian who came up with the Periodic Table of the elements survived only because of the Czar's protections; and the Nazis would have executed the greatest physicist of the past century because he was Jewish.
Care to be a scientist?
It takes guts. Morris outlines the risks, dangers and rewards of overthrowing an ancient orthodoxy with skill, humour and insight. Without people who have the courage to challenge the old, accepted and true, our lives would be ruled by sorcery, superstition and suspicion.
In brief, it's a wonderful look at how modern thought came to be modern.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
A mellifluous read
By A Customer
Like a well written piece of classical music, the story of early chemistry bears telling and retelling. Each interpretation brings the emotions and the feeling of its author. The written music is the same, the pleasure of listening to it comes from who does the playing.
Richard Morris would have made a great conductor. His interpretation of early chemistry is one of the most enjoyable I read. Read it together with Paul Strathern's "Mendeleyev's Dream" and Oliver Sacks' "Uncle Tungsten". You'll feel you have personally met Paracelsus, Lavoisier and Boyle.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
From Alchemy to Eternity: The Story of the Elements
By Jonathan M. Lourie
Richard Morris has done a wonderful job of taking what should be a dry topic and making it very interesting. The Last Sorcerer details the discovery of the elements and the people behind these discoveries. Along the way we meet a number of brilliant eccentrics, would be charlatans and an interesting collection of scientists and non-scientists. The chapters are short and punchy. The book flows well.
From the beginning we learn that while the ancient Egyptians had identified seven distinct elements, thanks to Aristotle, the field of Alchemy was born thus leading to the belief that all things were made up of four elements: air, water, earth and fire. From there it was quick jump to the belief that base metal (e.g., lead) could be transferred into gold. For centuries afterwards, alchemists struggled to reconcile this theory with their observations. But in that struggle chemistry was born.
Perhaps the best chapter is the one about the work of the Russian scientist Mendeleev and his work to discover the periodic law. When my children were studying the periodic table, I read this chapter to them and it helped to better understand and bring to life the dry and seemingly unfathomable periodic table. But there are other great chapters about many scientists from Boyle to Rutherford.
For those non-scientists who seek to expand their knowledge about the history of science and learn a little chemistry along the way, this is a great book. It is a bit old for children under 13 (and there is some language in the book) but you may find yourself reading a chapter or two to your children when they begin complaining about their chemistry class that day.
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