My Life in the Golden Age of Chemistry (eBook)

More Fun Than Fun

F. Albert Cotton (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2014 | 1. Auflage
512 Seiten
Elsevier Science (Verlag)
978-0-12-801338-0 (ISBN)

Infos

A giant in the field and at times a polarizing figure, F. Albert Cotton's contributions to inorganic chemistry and the area of transitions metals are substantial and undeniable. In his own words, My Life in the Golden Age of Chemistry: More Fun than Fun describes the late chemist's early life and college years in Philadelphia, his graduate training and research contributions at Harvard with Geoffrey Wilkinson, and his academic career from becoming the youngest ever full professor at MIT (aged 31) to his extensive time at Texas A&M. Professor Cotton's autobiography offers his unique perspective on the advances he and his contemporaries achieved through one of the most prolific times in modern inorganic chemistry, in research on the then-emerging field of organometallic chemistry, metallocenes, multiple bonding between transition metal atoms, NMR and ESR spectroscopy, hapticity, and more. Working during a time of generous government funding of science and strong sponsorship for good research, Professor Cotton's experience and observations provide insight into this prolific and exciting period of chemistry.

• Offers personal and often wry perspective from this prominent chemist and recipient of some of science's highest honors: the U.S. National Medal of Science (1982), the Priestley Medal (the American Chemical Society's highest recognition, 1998), membership in the U. S. National Academy of Sciences and corresponding international bodies, and 29 honorary doctorates
• Details the background behind the development and emergence of groundbreaking research in organometallic chemistry and transition metals
• Provides beautifully-written and engaging insight into a 'Golden Age of Chemistry' and the work of historically renowned chemists

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A giant in the field and at times a polarizing figure, F. Albert Cotton's contributions to inorganic chemistry and the area of transitions metals are substantial and undeniable. In his own words, My Life in the Golden Age of Chemistry: More Fun than Fun describes the late chemist's early life and college years in Philadelphia, his graduate training and research contributions at Harvard with Geoffrey Wilkinson, and his academic career from becoming the youngest ever full professor at MIT (aged 31) to his extensive time at Texas A&M. Professor Cotton's autobiography offers his unique perspective on the advances he and his contemporaries achieved through one of the most prolific times in modern inorganic chemistry, in research on the then-emerging field of organometallic chemistry, metallocenes, multiple bonding between transition metal atoms, NMR and ESR spectroscopy, hapticity, and more. Working during a time of generous government funding of science and strong sponsorship for good research, Professor Cotton's experience and observations provide insight into this prolific and exciting period of chemistry. Offers personal and often wry perspective from this prominent chemist and recipient of some of science's highest honors: the U.S. National Medal of Science (1982), the Priestley Medal (the American Chemical Society's highest recognition, 1998), membership in the U. S. National Academy of Sciences and corresponding international bodies, and 29 honorary doctorates Details the background behind the development and emergence of groundbreaking research in organometallic chemistry and transition metals Provides beautifully-written and engaging insight into a "e;Golden Age of Chemistry"e; and the work of historically renowned chemists

Inhalt

Front Cover 1
My Life in the Golden Age of 
4 
Copyright 5
Dedication 6
Table of Contents 8
Foreword 10
Prologue 12
To the Reader 14
Acknowledgements 16
Chapter 1: Philadelphia 18
High School (Jr. and Sr.) Years 27
College Days 31
Chapter 2: Harvard Years 40
A Summer at Los Alamos, 1952 46
The Pace of Research Quickens 49
My First Trip to Europe 50
Back to Harvard 60
Chapter 3: MIT 1955–60 66
Chapter 4: MIT 1961–71 98
The Sporting Life: Horses and Hounds 116
A Visit to Argentina 121
A Pleasant Sojourn in New York City 127
Calm Before the Storm 129
Goodbye to MIT 130
Chapter 5: MIT 1961–71: Mostly About Science 138
The Discovery of the Quadruple Bond 140
Infrared Spectra of Metal Carbonyls 156
Fluxional Organometallic Molecules 158
An Enzyme Structure — Staph Nuclease 172
Chapter 6: Yee Ha! Off to Texas 182
The Discovery of Agostic Interactions 191
More Metal—Metal Multiple Bonds 195
Collaboration with Malcolm Chisholm 197
The Rise and Decline of the Crystal Structure Industry 201
My First Visit to Israel and the Chemistry It Led To 203
My Adventure in Iran 214
The French Connection(s) 218
A Meeting in Southern Bavaria 221
Chapter 7: Good Times in the 1980s 226
A Fiasco of My Own Making 241
The National Medal of Science 243
The National Science Board 249
The Superconducting Supercollider 252
Chapter 8: From 1990 to the End of the Millennium 256
Other Activities During the 1990s 271
Chapter 9: The New Millenium 290
Chapter 10: More About People 306
Meeting Famous People 308
Secretaries 310
Jack Lewis 312
Earl Muetterties 315
Geoffrey Wilkinson 317
Derek Barton 321
Rick Adams 324
Carlos Murillo 325
Larry Falvello 326
Achim Müller 327
Herbert Roesky 328
Wolfgang Herrmann 329
Joseph Chatt 330
Fausto Calderazzo 332
Chapter 11: A Concluding Miscellany 334
Writing Books 336
Industrial Consulting 346
Changing Times at Texas A& M University
Animals 350
Some Recollections of Travel 352
Foreign Students 354
Three Golden Rules 357
Epilogue 358
Appendices 362
Appendix A: Ph.D. Students 364
Appendix B: Postdoctorals 366
Appendix C: Visitors 368
Appendix D: Priestly Lecture, 1998: Science Today — What Follows The Golden Age 369
Appendix E: Publications 378
Appendix F: Some Former Ph.D. Students 505
Index 506

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 19.8.2014
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Chemie ► Anorganische Chemie
• Themenwelt: Technik
• ISBN-10: 0-12-801338-9 / 0128013389
• ISBN-13: 978-0-12-801338-0 / 9780128013380