Designing the Molecular World - (Princeton Science Library) by Philip de Greff Ball (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Some of the most exciting scientific developments in recent years have come not from theoretical physicists, astronomers, or molecular biologists but instead from the chemistry lab. Chemists have created superconducting ceramics for brain scanners, designed liquid crystal flat screens for televisions and watch displays, and made fabrics that change color while you wear them. They have fashioned metals from plastics, drugs from crude oil, and have pinpointed the chemical pollutants affecting our atmosphere and are now searching for remedies for the imperiled planet. Philip Ball, an editor for the prestigious magazine Nature, lets the lay reader into the world of modern chemistry. Here, for example, chemists find new uses for the improbable buckminsterfullerene molecules--60-atom carbon soccerballs, dubbed "buckyballs"--which seem to have applications for everything from lubrication to medicine to electronics.

The book is not intended as an introduction to chemistry, but as an accessible survey of recent developments throughout many of the major fields allied with chemistry: from research in traditional areas such as crystallography and spectroscopy to entirely new fields of study such as molecular electronics, artificial enzymes, and "smart" polymer gels. Ball's grand tour along the leading edge of scientific discovery will appeal to all curious readers, with or without any scientific training, to chemistry students looking for future careers, and to practicing chemical researchers looking for information on other specialties within their discipline.

From the Back Cover

What this book aims to do is to present a selection of some of the things that a chemist today may find her or himself engaged in studying. If by doing so it succeeds in demonstrating simply that the new chemistry is no longer a matter of test tubes and bad smells (although both may be encountered along the way), that is fine enough. For this demonstration we will need to take a cursory glance not only at some of the basic principles of chemistry but also at a pot-pourri of ideas from disciplines as diverse as genetics, climatology, electronics and the study of chaos.

Review Quotes

"A tour de force of popular science writing."---John Postgate, The, Times Literary Supplement

"In this very readable and enjoyable book, Ball [offers] a whirlwind guided tour through some of the most exciting topics in modern chemistry, molecular physics, and materials science. . . . Lucidly written . . . with an acute awareness of recent advances and an excellent understanding of their intrinsic scientific content."-- "Physics World"

"It covers almost every possible recent development in chemistry in just the right amount of detail.... The old disciplines of organic, inorganic and physical chemistry of the stuffy textbooks are ploughed over and a new patchwork of fields created to fill their place."---David Bradley, New Scientist

"This book is like a clean fresh breeze, and puts the image of chemistry back into proper perspective.... [It] should be used ... to help convey to students ... enthusiasm for modern research."---Rudolph Fahnenstich, Angewandte Chemie

"Winner of the 1994 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Chemistry, Association of American Publishers"

About the Author

Philip Ball, Associate Editor for Physical Sciences for Nature, has written on the new chemistry for both technical journals and popular magazines and newspapers.