Enlightenment Science in the Romantic Era
Enlightenment Science in the Romantic Era
Tore Frdngsmyr, Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
$120.00
USDJoseph Berzelius (1779-1848), one of the world's leading scientists in the first half of the nineteenth century, dominated the field of chemistry, animated the cultural life of his native Sweden, and served for three decades as secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Despite his immense stature, modern studies have underestimated his significance. This volume remedies the scarcity of accessible, modern assessments of Berzelius by bringing to a broad audience the results of recent scholarship, and it offers an enhanced assessment of his originality and influence.
- Offers an enhanced assessment of his originality and influence
- The subject of this volume, Jacob Berzelius, is one of Sweden's cultural heroes
Reviews & endorsements
"...helps us considerably to see Berzelius's life and work in depth and in perspective." Alistair Duncan, Times Higher Education Supplement
"...an attractive collection of essays, offering significant new perceptions of Berzelius...chemists, historians of science and, indeed, anyone interested in those disciplines will find them of interest." Trevor H. Levere, American Scientist
"I recommend this multifaceted portrait of one of chemistry's most original and influential figures to a broad audience of chemists and historians of chemistry and of science." George B. Kauffman, Journal of Chemical Education
"...The aim of this excellent volume is to use the results of modern scholarship to replace the impoverished image of Berzelius and his chemistry with a keener appreciation of his contemporary significance...reflects admirably on the current state of Berzelius scholarship. It also promises to be an important focal point for future research into nineteenth-century chemistry for many years to come." John McEvoy, Isis
Product details
June 1992Hardback
9780521417754
264 pages
229 × 152 × 19 mm
0.56kg
6 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1. Berzelius and his time
- 2. 'Truth, The Angel of Light': Berzelius, Agardh and Hwasser
- 3. Berzelius and the atomic theory: the intellectual background
- 4. Berzelius, Dalton and the chemical atom
- 5. Berzelius's animal chemistry: from physiology to organic chemisty, 1805–1814
- 6. Novelty and tradition in the chemistry of Berzelius (1803–1819)
- 7. Berzelius as godfather of isomorphism
- 8. Berzelius, the dualistic hypothesis, and the rise of organic chemistry
- 9. Berzelius as a European traveller
- A selected bibliography
- Index.
