Letters to a Young Chemist
What should a young person pondering a career in chemistry keep in mind? Letters to a Young Chemist answers this question in an imaginative way. Abhik Ghosh has collected essays from 17 chemistry luminaries, written in the form of letters to a hypothetical chemistry undergrad, Angela, who is debating a career in the field.
Since the contributors work in various subdisciplines, the book provides a dramatic overview of the profession as a whole. One chemist extols the excitement of learning about the physical properties of organic molecules; another, who works in theoretical chemistry, illuminates one of the motivations of his work: “Being able to create a model of chemical events at a microscopic level is a key test of real ‘understanding,’ and can be a very satisfying and practical intellectual pursuit.”
Editor Ghosh contributes a letter to Angela in which he extols his work on porphyrins, whose best-known forms are heme, the red pigment that gives hemoglobin its red color, and chlorophyll, which is responsible for the green color of plants. Along with Angela, we readers are also treated to articles covering the chemistry of anesthesia, green chemistry, and enzymes. Speaking of the latter, a Berkeley chemist writes: “The most dramatic feature of enzymes is that they are high selective catalysts, allowing reactions that would normally require years in their absence to take place in milliseconds.” Further chapters impart an appreciation of the use of chemistry in cellular imaging, bioinorganic chemistry, the interface between chemistry and medicine, supramolecular chemistry (involving the study of viruses), biomaterials at the beach, and much more.
Letters to a Young Chemist showcases the vitality of 21st-century chemistry.
Softcover : 312 pages
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ( March 01, 2011 )
Item #: 13-188033
ISBN: 9780470390436
Product Dimensions: 6.125 x 9.25 inches
Product Weight: 16.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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