Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

It is sometimes said that the year of birth of physical chemistry was 1887. In that year the journal Zeitschrift für physikalische Chemie - the first journal devoted exclusively to physical chemistry - was launched and in its first year published important papers by Arrhenius and van't Hoff. However, a good deal of physical chemistry had been done previously. Two centuries earlier Robert Boyle had been carrying out physico-chemical investigations, and a good case can be made for regarding him as the first physical chemist. His approach to chemistry had a great influence on others, including Isaac Newton. In the eighteenth century Joseph Black and Antoine Lavoisier also did much that can be classed as physical chemistry. In the nineteenth century Robert Bunsen, Michael Farraday, and many others were contributing to the development of the subject. In this book Professor Laidler gives an account of the scientific development of Physical Chemistry over the years. He begins by discussing just what physical chemistry is, and how it relates to other sciences. He considers some of the difficulties faced by early investigators, as a result of attitudes of the churches, governments, and even the universities which at first were mainly interested in classical studies. Some account is also given of the way in which physical scientists have communicated with each other. Classical mechanics, and the modifications that had to be made to it, are briefly considered. The bulk of the book is concerned with the main branches of physical chemistry - thermodynamics, kinetic theory, statistical mechanics, spectroscopy, electrochemistry, kinetics, colloid and surface chemistry, and quantum chemistry - and how these subjects have developed up to the present time.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• 1 The origins of physical chemistry
• 2 Communications in the physical sciences
• 3 The growth of the physical sciences
• 4 Thermodynamics
• 5 Kinetic theory and statistical mechanics
• 6 Chemical spectroscopy
• 7 Electrochemistry
• 8 Chemical kinetics
• 9 Colloid and surface chemistry
• 10 Quantum chemistry
• Appendix: Scientific periodical;s
• References and Notes
• Biographical Notes
• References to Biographies
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

The title of a scientific treatise must be both attractive and correct, not vague and misleading, as this reviewer found with Laidler's choice. The author's own uncertainty is given away in the preface's opening line where he refers to his text as a "history of physical chemistry." Well, it isn't that, either. What is it, then, beyond a book in search of a better title? A book every professor should own for its wealth of information on the human dimensions of the subject. At the same time, it provides some sense of the flow of the history of chemistry in the major areas of kinetic and quantum theories, colloid and surface science, thermodynamics, spectroscopy, and electrochemistry. This must be the distillation of what makes Laidler's lectures great fun and entertainment, and at the same time, a simply marvelous presentation of the science. And if every professor should own a copy, so should every chemistry major. Laidler's references and annotations are largely drawn from Journal of Chemical Education and the more easily accessible historical studies, and his forays into history are accurate and well chosen, though frustratingly short on substance. The springboard to understanding of physical chemistry. Advanced undergraduate through professional. L. W. Fine; Columbia University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Keith J. Laidler is at University of Ottawa.