One of the founding fathers of organic chemistry and also a great teacher, Liebig (1803-73) enjoyed a close relationship with Britain, whose scientific education, medical practice and agriculture he transformed. Brock's fresh interpretation of Liebig's stormy career shows how he moved chemistry into the socio-political marketplace, demonstrating chemistry's significance for society in food production, nutrition and public health. Through popular lectures and his readable Chemical Letters, Liebig also commented on issues such as scientific methodology and materialism. This is the first...

In this illuminating and entertaining biography David Knight draws upon Humphry Davy's poetry, notebooks and informal writings to introduce us to one of the first professional scientists. Davy is best remembered for his work on laughing gas, for the arc lamp, for isolating sodium and potassium, for his theory that chemical affinity is electrical and, of course, for his safety lamp. His lectures on science made the fortunes of the Royal Institution in London, and he taught chemistry to the young Faraday. He is also recognized for his poetry and was the friend of Coleridge, Wordsworth and...

In this authoritative biography, James Hofmann examines the extraordinary life of Andre-Marie Ampere, who made original, significant contributions to mathematics and chemistry and is renowned for his new branch of physics - electrodynamics. A member of the Academie des Sciences, and professor at the Ecole Polytechnique, his accomplishments are remarkable in view of his tragic personal life. One of the elite of early nineteenth-century Parisian science, yet having no formal education, he embraced the scientific optimism of the Enlightenment, and the Catholic faith. This combination of...

This book examines the persona of the "man of science" in the Victorian period as it was shaped by Thomas Huxley, the leading British naturalist and notorious popularizer of Darwinian theory. It demonstrates how the scientific practitioner was regarded as a moral and religious figure; simultaneously considered to be the epitome of the secular, professional scientist. Breaking with traditional biographies, this fascinating portrait treats Huxley as the consummate British "man of science" and reflects on the historical significance of scientific authority.