CCL:G: An excellent book on chemical discovery

"Prometheans in the Lab: Chemistry and the Making of the Modern World" by Sharon Bertsch McGrayne is now available as a $9.99 e-book after being out of print for several years.

When McGraw-Hill published Prometheans in 2001, Otto Theodor Benfey of the Chemical Heritage Foundation and Guilford College called it "the first even-handed approach to the tangled interrelations between science, industry, the public's insistence on progress and comfort, and the desperate need to preserve the environment. It is an answer to those who see chemists as the cause of all our environmental problems."

In a three-quarter page review in Nature, Martyn Poliakoff of the University of Nottingham wrote, “The balance between consumer benefit and environmental impact is not clear-cut, and this is the crux of Sharon Bertsch McGrayne’s ambitious book…. Their lives illustrate the interplay of consumer demand, corporate greed and environmental fallout… One of her main arguments… is that we should not apply environmental judgements to historical situations without considering their humanitarian context…. A compelling read… many fascinating stories, … and well-researched.”

The nine profiled chemists and their discoveries are Nicolas Leblanc and soap; William Henry Perkins and dyes; Norbert Rillieux and sugar; Edward Frankland and clean water; Fritz Haber, fertilizer and poison gas; Thomas Midgley Jr., leaded gasoline and safe refrigeration; Wallace Hume Carothers, nylon and synthetic rubber; Paul Hermann Müller and DDT; and Clair C. Patterson and lead-free gasoline.

“This book is a gem! Rarely have I seen chemistry so clearly and eloquently explained, while still showing all its shortcomings…. A good and easy read.”

“Thought and thought-provoking. An excellent job of describing the chemical processes and their legacies – both beneficial and unintended.”

“Artfully combines scientific, economic, political, and sociological implications of the discoveries by focusing on the inventors and their lives.”

“Evenhanded… [describes] both the benefits that chemists have conferred on the world and the social and environmental problems that they have inadvertently caused…. This is indeed unusual, if not unique… Her portraits of warts-and-all personalities and private lives are engaging…. Both important and complicated. Well done and worth reading —certainly for students, but even for academic historians.”

“On your next trip to the bookstore by pass the action adventure thrillers and seek out Prometheans in the Lab… I wish that McGrayne’s book were twice its length.”