The chemistry book From gunpowder to graphene, 250 milestones in the history of chemistry
Book - 2016
The author explores 250 of the most significant and interesting chemistry milestones from c. 500,000 BCE to 2030. Chronologically organized, the entries each consist of a short summary and an image. The book presents an array of discoveries, theories, and technological applications as it traces the evolution of the "central science"--From publisher's description.
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- C. 500,000 BCE: crystals
- c. 3300 BCE: bronze
- c. 2800 BCE: soap
- c. 1300 BCE: iron smelting
- c. 1200 BCE: purification
- c. 550 BCE: gold refining
- c. 450 BCE: the four elements
- c. 400 BCE: atomism
- 210 BCE: mercury
- c. 60 CE: natural products
- c. 126: Roman concrete
- c. 200: porcelain
- c. 672: Greek fire
- c. 800: the philosopher's stone
- c. 800: Viking steel
- c. 850: gunpowder
- c. 900: alchemy
- c. 1280: aqua regia
- c. 1280: fractional distillation
- 1538: toxicology
- 1540: diethyl ether
- 1556: 'De re metallica'
- 1605: the advancement of learning
- 1607: Yorkshire alum
- 1631: quinine
- 1661: 'The skeptical chymist'
- 1667: phlogiston
- 1669: phosphorus
- 1700: hydrogen sulfide
- c. 1706: Prussian blue
- 1746: sulfuric acid
- 1752: hydrogen cyanide
- 1754: carbon dioxide
- 1758: Cadet's fuming liquid
- 1766: hydrogen
- 1774: oxygen
- 1789: conservation of mass
- 1791: titanium
- 1792: ytterby
- 1804: morphine
- 1805: electroplating
- 1806: amino acids
- 1807: electrochemical reduction
- 1808: Dalton's atomic theory
- 1811: Avogadro's hypothesis
- 1813: chemical notation
- 1814: Paris green
- 1815: cholesterol
- 1819: caffeine
- 1822: supercritical fluids
- 1828: Beryllium
- 1828: Wöhler's urea synthesis
- 1832: functional groups
- 1834: ideal gas law
- 1834: photochemistry
- 1839: polymers and polymerization
- 1839: daguerreotype
- 1839: rubber
- 1840: ozone
- 1842: phosphate fertilizer
- 1847: nitroglycerine
- 1848: chirality
- 1852: fluorescence
- 1854: separatory funnel
- 1856: Perkin's mauve
- 1856: mirror silvering
- 1859: flame spectroscopy
- 1860: Cannizzaro at Karlsruhe
- 1860: oxidation states
- 1861: Erlenmeyer flask
- 1861: structural formula
- 1864: Solvay process
- 1865: benzene and aromaticity
- 1868: helium
- 1869: the periodic table
- 1874: tetrahedral carbon atoms
- 1876: Gibbs free energy
- 1877: Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution
- 1877: Friedel-Crafts reaction
- 1878: indigo synthesis
- 1879: Soxhlet extractor
- 1881: Fougère Royale
- 1883: Claus process
- 1883: liquid nitrogen
- 1884: Fischer and sugars
- 1885: Le Châtelier's principle
- 1886: isolation of fluorine
- 1886: aluminum
- 1887: cyanide gold extraction
- 1888: liquid crystals
- 1891: thermal cracking
- 1892: chlor-alkali process
- 1892: acetylene
- 1893: thermite
- 1893: borosilicate glass
- 1893: coordination compounds
- 1894: the mole
- 1894: asymmetrical induction
- 1894: diazomethane
- 1895: liquid air
- 1896: greenhouse effect
- 1897: aspirin
- 1897: zymase fermentation
- 1897: hydrogenation
- 1898: neon
- 1900: Grignard reaction
- 1900: free radicals
- 1900: silicones
- 1901: chromatography
- 1902: polonium and radium
- 1905: infrared spectroscopy
- 1907: Bakelite
- 1907: spider silk
- 1909: pH and indicators
- 1909: Haber-Bosch process
- 1909: Salvarsan
- 1912: x-ray crystallography
- 1912: Maillard reaction
- 1912: stainless steel
- 1912: boranes and the vacuum-line technique
- 1912: dipole moments
- 1913: mass spectrometry
- 1913: isotopes
- 1915: chemical warfare
- 1917: surface chemistry
- 1918: Radithor
- 1920: Dean-Stark trap
- 1920: hydrogen bonding
- 1921: tetraethyl lead
- 1923: acids and bases
- 1923: radioactive tracers
- 1925: Fischer-Tropsch process
- 1928: Diels-Alder reaction
- 1928: Reppe chemistry
- 1930: chlorofluorocarbons
- 1931: sigma and pi bonding
- 1931: deuterium
- 1932: carbonic anhydrase
- 1932: vitamin C
- 1932: sulfanilamide
- 1933: polyethylene
- 1934: superoxide
- 1934: the fume hood
- 1935: transition state theory
- 1935: nylon
- 1936: nerve gas
- 1936: technetium
- 1937: cellular respiration
- 1937: elixir sulfanilamide
- 1937: reaction mechanisms
- 1938: catalytic cracking
- 1938: Teflon
- 1939: the last element in nature
- 1939: 'The nature of the chemical bond'
- 1939: DDT
- 1940: gaseous diffusion
- 1942: steroid chemistry
- 1942: cyanoacrylates
- 1943: LSD
- 1943: streptomycin
- 1943: Bari raid
- 1944: Birch reduction
- 1944: magnetic stirring
- 1945: penicillin
- 1945: glove boxes
- 1947: antifolates
- 1947: kinetic isotope effects
- 1947: photosynthesis
- 1948: Donora death fog
- 1949: catalytic reforming
- 1949: molecular disease
- 1949: nonclassical ion controversy
- 1950: conformational analysis
- 1950: cortisone
- 1950: rotary evaporator
- 1951: Sanger sequencing
- 1951: the pill
- 1951: alpha-helix and beta-sheet
- 1951: ferrocene
- 1951: transuranic elements
- 1952: gas chromatography
- 1952: Miller-Urey experiment
- 1952: zone refining
- 1952: thallium poisoning
- 1953: DNA's structure
- 1953: synthetic diamond
- 1955: electrophoresis
- 1956: the hottest flame
- 1957: luciferin
- 1958: DNA replication
- 1960: thalidomide
- 1960: resolution and chiral chromatography
- 1961: NMR
- 1962: green fluorescent protein
- 1962: Noble gas compounds
- 1962: isoamyl acetate and esters
- 1963: Zieger-Natta catalysis
- 1963: Merrifield synthesis
- 1963: dipolar cycloadditions
- 1964: Kevlar
- 1965: protein crystallography
- 1965: cisplatin
- 1965: lead contamination
- 1965: methane hydrate
- 1965: Woodward-Hoffman rules
- 1966: polywater
- 1967: HPLC
- 1968: BZ reaction
- 1969: Murchison meteorite
- 1969: Gore-Tex
- 1970: carbon dioxide scrubbing
- 1970: computational chemistry
- 1970: glyphosate
- 1971: reverse-phase chromatography
- 1972: rapamycin
- 1973: B12 synthesis
- 1974: CFCs and the ozone layer
- 1975: enzyme stereochemistry
- 1976: PET imaging
- 1977: Nozaki coupling
- 1979: tholin
- 1980: iridium impact hypothesis
- 1982: unnatural products
- 1982: MPTP
- 1983: polymerase chain reaction
- 1984: electrospray LC/MS
- 1984: AZT and antiretrovirals
- 1984: quasicrystals
- 1984: Bhopal disaster
- 1985: fullerenes
- 1985: MALDI
- 1988: modern drug discovery
- 1988: PEPCON explosion
- 1989: Taxol
- 1991: carbon nanotubes
- 1994: palytoxin
- 1997: coordination frameworks
- 1998: recrystallization and polymorphs
- 2001: click triazoles
- 2004: graphene
- 2005: shikimic acid shortage
- 2005: olefin metathesis
- 2006: flow chemistry
- 2006: isotopic distribution
- 2009: acetonitrile
- 2010: engineered enzymes
- 2010: metal-catalyzed couplings
- 2013: single-molecule images
- 2025: hydrogen storage
- 2030: artificial photosynthesis.
Review by Choice Review Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.