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In Cathedrals of Science, Patrick Coffey describes how chemistry got its modern footing-how thirteen brilliant men and one woman struggled with the laws of the universe and with each other. They wanted to discover how the world worked, but they also wanted credit for making those discoveries, and their personalities often affected how that credit was assigned. Gilbert Lewis, for example, could be reclusive and resentful, and his enmity with Walther Nernst may have cost him the Nobel Prize; Irving Langmuir, gregarious and charming, "rediscovered" Lewis's theory of the chemical bond and received much of the credit for it. Langmuir's personality smoothed his path to the Nobel Prize over Lewis. Coffey deals with moral and societal issues as well. These same scientists were the first to be seen by their countries as military assets. Fritz Haber, dubbed the "father of chemical warfare," pioneered the use of poison gas in World War I-vividly described-and Glenn Seaborg and Harold Urey were leaders in World War II's Manhattan Project; Urey and Linus Pauling worked for nuclear disarmament after the war. Science was not always fair, and many were excluded. The Nazis pushed Jewish scientists like Haber from their posts in the 1930s. Anti-Semitism was also a force in American chemistry, and few women were allowed in; Pauling, for example, used his influence to cut off the funding and block the publications of his rival, Dorothy Wrinch. Cathedrals of Science paints a colorful portrait of the building of modern chemistry from the late 19th to the mid-20th century.
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Cathedrals of Science This page intentionally left blank CATHEDRALS OF SCIENCE The Personalities and Rivalries That Made Modern Chemistry Patrick Coffey 1 2008 3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2008 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Coffey, Patrick. Cathedrals of science / the personalities and rivalries that made modern chemistry / Patrick Coffey. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-532134-0 1. Discoveries in science. 2. Chemical weapons. 3. Chemists—Psychology. 4. Langmuir, Irving, 1881–1957. 5. Lewis, Gilbert Newton, 1875–1946. 6. Science—Moral and ethical aspects. 7. Chemistry—History—20th century. I. Title. Q180.55.D57C64 2008 540—dc22 2007048304 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To Ellen This page intentionally left blank Contents Prologue xi 1 The Ionists: Arrhenius and Nernst 3 2 Physical Chemistry in America: Lewis and Langmuir 38 3 The Third Law and Nitrogen: Haber and Nernst 71 4 Chemists at War: Haber, Nernst, Langmuir, and Lewis 95 5 The Lewis-Langmuir Theory: Lewis, Langmuir, and Harkins 121 6 Science and the Nazis: Nernst and Haber 151 7 Nobel Prizes: Lewis and Langmuir 175 8 Nuclear Chemistry: Lewis, Urey, and Seaborg 208 9 The Secret of Life: Pauling, Wrinch, and