Öhrström Lars. The Last Alchemist in Paris: And Other Curious Tales from Chemistry

Oxford University Press, 2013. — 256 p — ISBN 9780199661091, 019966109X.This is a book about discovery and disaster, exploitation and invention, warfare and science - and the relationship between human beings and the chemical elements that make up our planet. Lars Ohrstrom introduces us to a variety of elements from S to Pb through tales of ordinary and extraordinary people from around the globe. We meet African dictators controlling vital supplies of uranium; eighteenth-century explorers searching out sources of precious metals; industrial spies stealing the secrets of steel-making. We find out why the Hindenburg airship was tragically filled with hydrogen, not helium; why nail-varnish remover played a key part in World War I; and the real story behind the legend of tin buttons and the downfall of Napoleon. In each chapter, we find out about the distinctive properties of each element and the concepts and principles that have enabled scientists to put it to practical use. These are the fascinating (and sometimes terrifying) stories of chemistry in action.Preamble: The Periodic Table and the Da Vinci Code.
Mr Khama is Coming to Dinner.
From Bitterfeld with Love.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Airship.
The Spy and the Saracen’s Secret.
Biopiracy: The Curse of the Nutmeg.
Death at Number 29.
Blue Blooded Stones and the Prisoner in the Crystal Cage.
Diamonds are Forever and Zirconium is for Submarines.
Graphite Valley: IT in the Eighteenth-Century Lake District.
1The Emperor and Miss Smilla.
Rendezvous on the High Plateau.
The Last Alchemist in Paris.
Pardon My French: Captain Haddock and the Sufferings of the Savoyards.
Two Brilliant Careers.
War and Vanity.
When State Security was a Stinking Business.
Bonaparte’s Bursting Buttons: A Thin Story.
I Told You So, Said Marcus Vitruvius Pollio.
A Shiny Surface and a Tainted Past.
The Actress and the Spin Doctor.
Of Pea-Soup, Dangers of Coffee in the Morning, and the Test of Mr Marsh.
To Take Back the Future.
Acknowledgments.
Bibliography.
References.
Index.