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Nobel laureate Roald Hoffman confronts some of the major ethical controversies in chemistry today. Expertly weaving together examples from the worlds of art, literature, and philosophy, Hoffmann illustrates his uniquely accessible dialectic about the creative activity of chemists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Same and Not the Same
I am a recent college grad with ca hemistry minor, and I decided to read this after one of my chemistry professors recommended it. However, I found that even with my limited background in chemistry, a lot of it was like reading an extremely concise overview of the topics I covered in my classes. On the other hand, I found myself thinking much of the time that a lot of the material in the book might be difficult to grasp in full depth for someone who hasn't had at least 1 or 2 college-level chemistry classes. I feel it's not really a book you'd read to learn about, or advance your knowledge of chemistry. It was nice to be reminded, in a non-technical matter, of many of the topics I learned about in chemistry throughout college however. It's probably a good book to read if you're a high school senior or college freshman who is on the fence about majoring in chemistry.

The Philosophy, Artistry, and Humanity of Chemistry
(8 out of 10)

Roald Hoffman has several objectives in this book: to lift chemistry from zealous physical reductionism, to show the artistic side of chemistry, to show the humanity of chemistry, and -of course, throughout- to present chemistry.

Regarding reductionism, Hoffman argues essentially this: Quantum physics does not reduce chemistry to a rich Lego Set where chemists just permute new combinations of atoms.What mother worries about solving a wave equation when enjoying the experience of her newborn?Physics may describe all phenomena, but its descriptions are unsatisfactory with increasing layers of abstraction; chemistry is one of these abstractions.

Hoffman lifts chemistry from reductionism by simply presenting what chemists deal with everyday.Many of these questions have an epistemological flavor to them.For instance, what molecules make up this substance?How do I know for sure that this molecule that I have synthesized is exactly the one found in nature?In what manner does a chemical reaction proceed, e.g., what are the reactionary intermediate molecules on the way to the final product?What is the best way to represent this molecule on paper?This more philosophical presentation of chemistry, preserves the book from being `stale' as more test tube chem books may suffer from.It is also easy to see that these questions do not involve a bit of quantum physics at all.

Perhaps unique among the sciences, chemistry creates itself with every new reaction mechanism >imagined<, and every new molecule synthesized.Because of that, Hoffman argues, chemistry is much closer to the Arts than any other science.He then explores this in depth, showing us the steps to synthesizing cubane, a beautifully simple carbon molecule that looks like a cube.And he shows us what makes a synthesis beautiful in the eyes of a chemist.It can be a visual aesthetic, a devilishly ingenious synthesis mechanism, a new way to create greater yields, and so on.

Presenting the humanity of chemistry is just as important to Hoffman as chemistry's Art, and it's rescue from reductionism. So not only does Hoffman show us how chemistry is much like the Arts, he also presents some of the moral dilemma's that many chemists face.A chemical can bestow great benefit and at the same time cause a lot of harm.A few examples that he gives revolve about synthetic growth hormones and insecticide.Particularly nice is how he personally reacts as a chemist and lay person.Perhaps the best example is his chapter on the great chemist Haber who represents the paradoxes of chemistry.So peppered throughout, Hoffman gives his personal view that chemistry and it's surrounding community must face, which makes his second objective (humanity) that much better, and in addition gives the book a very warm style.

But now, let's move on to the negatives, and I hope you don't skip them, because I believe it will enhance your reading of this book. Superficially, Hoffman paints a broad stroke of chemistry and at times gets off the topic.But, the biggest problem with the book is that Hoffman unintentionally puts up a smokescreen.He wants to show that chemistry is not just merely an academic application of physics, but an endeavor in its own right.By just explaining and presenting chemistry as he did, he did a splendid job.

However, Hoffman peppers his book with `diatribes' against radical reductionism (those who choose to reduce chemistry to physics.)This really detracts from the beauty of the rest of the book, because the readers are then expecting a direct redressing of the criticism; when none is offered, the beauty of the rest of the book is diminished, because they are left scratching their heads.

The analogy is this. Suppose I will emotionally rebut the reductionists trying to reduce motherhood to physics.Then, I proceed to >just< explain motherhood.And that is all.Chances are, since my argument in no way mentions physics again, it will detract you from appreciating fully the subject I presented.This is how I felt for a good deal of Hoffman's book.Now, you won't make that mistake. Remember, Hoffman's argument is self evident in the chemistry he presents.

So who would appreciate this book?I believe first year chemists, and students thinking of making chemistry their careers would gain a lot from this book.However, the book is broad enough to appeal to those who have a passing interest in science.In fact, it is those people who have a passing interest in science who might like it more than science fans that may have wanted a more `test-tube' book.

Let me end by giving Hoffman's example of -what seemed to me- the embodiment of the book.In a chapter he shows the struggle every chemist faces when dealing with his pears.The debates can be heated and down right nasty, and dare I say, unprofessional.Hoffman gives lengthy quotes from anonymous peers reviewing papers he submitted to respected chemistry journals.

It is a showing of the insecurities that all of us have, and equally, it is an intimate look at the lives chemists.It's quite unique from any book I've read on science.So, take this book in its entirety: with all of the artistry, science, and philosophy; its trivial mistakes, and over emotional ones.What emerges is a warm, comfortably familiar human touch.

Illuminating and Facinating - A Wonderful Presentation
This collection of essays about the nature and practice of chemistry is as rich and diverse as the subject itself.It describes what it is like to be a chemist and the undercurrent of ideas that define chemistry as aunique and worthy endeavor. This book should be must reading for everystudent of science. With its clear and lucid style, it reminded me insome ways of my other favorite author, Stephen Jay Gould. I couldn't putit down. One last comment: The heavy coated paper adds clarity andcrispness to the words and illustrations, well worth the extra cost. Verynice. Thanks Columbia University Press. ... Read more

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A Nobel Prize-winning chemist uses collages, short essays, personal commentary, and poems to show the magic and mysteries of his field and stress the social, literary, and psychological aspects of chemistry. ... Read more

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Chemistry Imagined
Roald Hoffmann's "Chemistry Imagined" is not only a fascinatingbook about chemistry: it is also about live, society, history, art,creative thinking. Through several small tales, Hoffmann show to thereaders an insightful view of how chemistry is the central science, itscontributions to actual society life style, its importance in economy andlive and, maybe the most important concept, its strong relationship withart. In some way, the creative process for science is the same that forart. The excellents illustrations made by Vivian Torrence, are the bestlandscape where the readers can "imagine the chemistry" behindthe words of Hoffmann. A must for all the people with an interest inchemistry or science (or, as I said, art). ... Read more

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This unique book shows how chemistry and physics come together in the solid state and on surfaces. Using a lively, graphic, descriptive approach, it teaches chemists the language that is necessary to understand the electronic structure of extended systems. And, at the same time, it demonstrates how a chemical, frontier-orbital, approach to solid state and surface bonding and reactivity may be constructed.

The book begins with the language of crystal orbitals, band structures and densities of states. The tools for moving back from the highly delocalized orbitals of the solid are then built up in a transparent manner; they include decompositions of the densities of states and crystal orbital overlap populations. Using these tools, the book shapes a meeting ground between detailed quantum mechanical calculations and a chemical frontier orbital perspec- tive. Applications include a general picture of chemisorption, bond-breaking and making in the solid state, bonding in metals, the electronic structure of selected conducting and supercon- ducting structures, dissociation, migration and coupling on surfaces and the forces controlling deformation of extended systems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

very enlightening!
I'm a Ph D student in physics working on the adsorption of molecules at surfaces, but I didn't really know what I was doing until I read this book. It's easy to understand (because it's so well written), also for physicists although it is written for chemists (I barely know anything about chemistry, but I understood everything). The book teaches you the most important things you need to know to understand bonds qualitatively and also e.g. the related shifts in energy, charge transfers,... However peopleworking in the field of chemistry or physics shouldn't bother to buy this book because they'll probably have access to the papers this book is based upon. The most important of these papers is:

R. Hoffmann, A chemical and theoretical way to look at bonding onsurfaces, Rev. Mod. Phys. 60, 601-628 (1988).

This is a very interesting article that you definitely should read.

Conceptually brilliant !
This is simply the funniest and most enjoyable book on theoretical inorganic chemistry I've ever read. Its format is close to your typical bedside table novel, lively informal and packed with the most awesome qualitative insights on bonding with molecular orbital theory without the need to resort to hardcore mathematics. It also has some amusing puns and jokes mixed with the enthusiasm of conveying this knowledge. The more interested reader should also read Jeremy Burdett's "Chemical Bonding in Solids" for a more detailed account of the quantum chemical and solid state aspects involved. All in all 140 pages of pure pleasure.

A straightforward, visual examination of a difficult subject
This book bridges the language gap between chemistry and condensed matter physics.Starting from the language that all chemists are comfortable with - that of molecular orbitals - Hoffman builds up the idea of bonding inextended structures (solids) as if a solid was just a giant molecule.Thisis done with a minimum of mathematics, mostly using simple and graphicalrepresentation.As a primer to the area of solid state chemistry, thisbook is invaluable.

I'm not sure if physicists, starting from the otherend of the language will find it as useful as a chemist, but it should bestraightforward for them as well, giving them the chemist's point of view(language).

This is a short book, and wisely does not try to exceed itsboundries, that of an introduction/overview.For a more mathematicaltreatment, I would suggest Burdett's "Chemical Bonding inSolids."If you only want an introduction written in plain languagewith lots of graphics, this is the book for you.

Every chemist needs to read this!
This book bridges a gap between molecular orbital theory and the empirical/intuitive way chemists think about bonding in molecules. From there, it opens up vistas in extended systems (e.g. solids, conductivepolymers) that most ordinary "molecular" chemists think of asforeign and forbidding because the language and tools used to treat themare those of solid state physicists with which most chemists are(regrettably) unfamiliar. Hoffmann brings all this good stuff home tochemists, without the bludgeon of complicated mathematics, inviting us in,showing us how much we already know. My own background is both physics andtraditional synthetic organic/organometallic chemistry. Until I read thisbook, I had struggled to see how the physics and chemistry meet. This bookhas really bridged the gap. ... Read more

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What motivates a scientist? One key factor is the pressure from the competition to be the first to discover something new. The moral consequences of this are the subject of the play "Oxygen", dealing with the discovery of this all-important element. The focus of the play is on chemical and political revolutions, as well as the Nobel Prize, which will be awarded for the 100th time in 2001. The action takes place in 1777 and 2001; and the play is written for 3 actors and 3 actresses who play a total of 11 characters. The world premiere will take place in early 2001 in San Diego, and the German premiere in September.
The world-famous authors Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann are a guarantee of excellence and suspense, both in their role as scientists -- Carl Djerassi is known as the "Father of the Pill" while Roald Hoffmann received the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1982 - as well as in their role as authors -- Djerassi has written several successful novels, while Hoffmann is renowned for his poetry. ... Read more

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A Breath of Fresh Air
Science is exploration, both systematic and creative, and as such, it is an activity innate to humans.

"Oxygen" offers an insider's glimpse into two facets of science often shrouded in mystery, but filled with expressions of human splendor--and folly:the struggle for recognition of ones scientific discoveries and the awarding of a Nobel Prize for discoveries deemed singularly important.

The playwrights, Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann, have each contributed their own singular scientific discoveries and literary creations to the world.They use the occasion of the centenary of the Nobel Prizes to mirror fictional experiences involving the historical chemists Lavoisier, Priestley, and Scheele--and the women in their lives--with the arguments and self-reflections of a committee of modern-day Swedish scientists trying to award a retro-Nobel for the most important discovery in chemistry before 1901.

Both sets of characters, those of the 18th Century who discovered oxygen and those of the 21st who seek to honor that discovery, act out the passions that drive the men and women who pursue science--and do so in ways at home in either century.The play reveals to the reader, whether a student of science (of any age) or not, the issues and emotions that underlie a scientist's compulsion to question, and hopefully to understand, the workings of the natural world, all the while striving for primacy in discovery.The book offers a voyage of discovery worth taking.

2001- A Chemical Odyssey
The year is 1777- the American Revolution and the chemical revolution are both burning brightly. In a Stockholm sauna, Mary Priestley and Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier, the wives of Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier, and Sara Margaretha Pohl, the companion of Carl Wilhelm Scheele, open this imaginative play and set the stage for the scientific, emotional and ethical struggles that follow. It is a tempestuous period: the wealthy Lavoisier was guillotined during the Reign of Terror in 1794. Joseph Priestley, a founder of the Unitarian Church and also a friend of Franklin, was forced to flee England for America, as a mob burned his church to the ground.

The authors of this play comfortably inhabit both of C.P. Snow's "Two Cultures". Roald Hoffmann is a winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Carl Djerassi performed the first synthesis of a steroid oral contraceptive. Prior to "Oxygen", Hoffmann had published widely acclaimed poetry and other "cross cultural books" for scientists and non-scientists while Djerassi had published successful novels as well as a play and a book of poems.

Nobel Prizes are awarded to living practioners and the practice has been, where sharing is appropriate- usually in the sciences- no more than three co-awardees. But in 2001, the hundredth anniversary of the Nobel Prize, Astrid Rosenquist, the first female chair of a chemistry Nobel committee springs two surprises on her three male committee members. The first is that the Swedish Academy of Sciences will begin a new Retro-Nobel Prize for early discoveries. The second is the participation of a mysterious and alluring recorder or "amanuensis" named Ulla Zorn.

The play alternates scenes between the Court of King Carl Gustav the Third and the Stockholm of 2001. The discussion of candidates by the modern committee rapidly converges to the discovery of oxygen and the understanding of fire that transformed chemistry into a modern science. The problem is this-we now know that Scheele first discovered oxygen around 1771-2; Priestley discovered it totally independently in 1774, disclosed his discovery to Lavoisier during a visit to Paris in that year and published first. History proves that Scheele also disclosed his discovery in a letter addressed to Lavoisier two weeks before Priestley's visit. Lavoisier never responded to Scheele's letter. But Priestley and Scheele did not understand the significance of their discovery. They believed that the new "fire air" sucked an essence of fire (phlogiston) from burning matter. It was Lavoisier who understood that burning, rusting and respiration all involved addition of oxygen (oxidation) rather than loss of something to the air. One committee member, Bengt Hjalmarsson, is reasonably fluent in French and is assigned Lavoisier. Scheele is assigned to Sune Kallstenius, comfortable in the German language frequently employed by Scheele. Ulf Svanholm is assigned Priestley. Not surprisingly they each become advocates for their "charges". But other human frailties emerge. Bengt and Astrid have a history. Ulf harbors a grudge against Sune, who he is convinced, caused him to be "scooped" on his major discovery. The stage has been set to play off the issues of scientific priority, ambition and motivation, complicated by human passions, among powerful women and men of the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries. Indeed, it is the women who, according to Ms Zorn, are "...usually expected to clean up the dirt" and so they do by clarifying history and moving the modern committee to an acceptable concensus.

The issue of priority for the discovery of oxygen is to be settled in The Judgement of Stockholm. Did Lavoisier, Scheele and Priestley ever meet together? Probably not- but what an exciting thought. And in the best tradition of modern science, the critical experiments of one must be performed by another. There are thrilling scenes here: Lavoisier performing Scheele's generation of "fire-air" under the latter's supervision; Antoine confiding his intuition about Scheele to Marie ("I trust him"); Joseph to Mary about Scheele ("I trust him"); Carl Wilhelm to Fru Pohl on Lavoisier ("I do not trust him"). And there is an extra bonus. There is evidence that to celebrate their chemical revolution, Antoine and Marie performed a brief play or masque. Alas, the script, if one ever existed in writing, is unknown. But Djerassi and Hoffmann offer us a delight- Marie, as "oxygen" publicly humiliates and vanquishes Antoine, as "phlogiston", in a performance witnessed, with amusement, by King Carl Gustav and with increasing discomfort and then consternation by the Priestleys, Scheele and Fru Pohl.

The twists, surprises and the denouement will be left for the discovery of the reader. The authors have succeeded wonderfully in combining solid history, with the informed nuances and rich humor of two of the world's most accomplished scientists. Hoffmann and Djerassi do not recognize the boundaries of the "Two Cultures" and readers of this play will be the richer as a result. One last thought- the number of actors in this play is quite small and the settings simple. A reading of the play can be readily staged by high school or college chemistry classes. What a way to enliven chemical history and bridge the sciences, humanities and fine arts! ... Read more

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Roald Hoffmann’s fourth collection of poetry, Soliton, brings the full scope of his outlook—he writes of nature and bittersweet love, and on Jewish themes and his Holocaust survival. His poems are sometimes funny and always carefully observed and reflective. His work is intriguing, mysterious, ambitious, and accomplished. ... Read more

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collection of poems ... Read more

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Exploring the fundamental harmony along the continuum between scientific inquiry and religion, the authors of this text examine a series of encompassing issues such as purity, perception, authority, precision, and the supernatural comparing how each is handled in the realm of science, art/poetry and Jewish scholarship. The result of the study provides a range of contemporary values that arrive at a respect and appreciation for the underlying unity of all knowledge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The book has a mind widening effect
Roald Hoffmann and Shira Leibowitz have worked together long and hard witha very ambitious project in mind, that is to establish or, better said,search and show possible connections between two of human culturalenterprises, religion (specifically Jewish religion) and science(particularly Chemistry).

Sh. Leibowitz's deep knowledge of thebyblical books and commentaries, and R.Hoffmann's extensive knowledge inChemistry, Physics, Art, and Poetry, make up a very rich treasure box fromwhere they have picked up different items, which then they developed astrees with many branches, by connecting or associating ideas.

The treemetaphor also helps to express the divergent nature of their writing,without a specific idea to lay out, expose, prove, or simply develop. Thischaracteristic in the process of the writing and specially the selection ofitems (somewhat by chance it seems), leaves the reader too much to himself,finding value in the text by his or her own wonderings, given that there isno conclusion established for the various links.

It is a differentstyle, most writers aim to convince, they guide the reader with frequentreminders as returningto the point of departure, or flashbacks to see thepath followed. In this book R.H and Sh.L. only draw a picture with elementsof two cultures, they express an open minded view of reality, and ofknowledge, as something that is built by each person with the materials athand.

It's difficult to say what is it that one has learned afterreading them, in the classical way, but there is a feeling of havingtravelled from the beginning of man's thought through the minds of manythoughtful men and women till our days, there is a feeling of the mindwidenning, of an alertness that was not there before.

Talmudical
Indeed the style employed by the authors can in some ways be compared to that of the Talmud, which is an encyclopedia of Jewish law but often works quite associatively in presenting information. The authors have explored the synthetist view (also voiced by Maimonides and many contemporary orthodox Jewish scientists) that religion MUST BE reconcilable with scientific findings, even though they might not be at first glance. The Jewish sources are well researched. An intriguing read. ... Read more

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In clearly structured chapters, this book covers the fascinating world of hydrocarbons, providing an insight into the fundamental principles of chemistry. The monograph covers modern aspects of the topic, such as carbon nanotubes, molecular flask inclusion, and fullerenes, with new synthetic procedures for the build up of the structural lattice included. ... Read more

Product Description
What motivates a scientist? One key factor is the pressure from the competition to be the first to discover something new. The moral consequences of this are the subject of the play "Oxygen", dealing with the discovery of this all-important element. The focus of the play is on chemical and political revolutions, as well as the Nobel Prize, which will be awarded for the 100th time in 2001. The action takes place in 1777 and 2001; and the play is written for 3 actors and 3 actresses who play a total of 11 characters. The world premiere will take place in early 2001 in San Diego, and the German premiere in September. The world-famous authors Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann are a guarantee of excellence and suspense, both in their role as scientists - Carl Djerassi is known as the "Father of the Pill" while Roald Hoffmann received the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1982 - as well as in their role as authors - Djerassi has written several successful novels, while Hoffmann is renowned for his poetry. ... Read more

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Throughout its long history, and not just as the key aesthetic category for the Romantic Movement, the sublime has created the necessary link between aesthetic and moral judgment, offering the prospect of transcending the limits of measurement, even imagination. The best of science makes genuine claims to the sublime. For in science, as in art, every day brings the entirely new, the extreme, and the unrepresentable. How does one depict negative mass, for example, or the folding of a protein that is contagious? Can one capture emergent phenomena as they emerge? Science is continually faced with describing that which is beyond.

This book, through contributions from nine prominent scholars, tackles that challenge. The explorations within Beyond the Finite range from the images taken by the Hubble Telescope to David Bohm's quantum romanticism, from Kant and Burke to a "downward spiraling infinity" of the 21st century sublime, all lucid yet transcendent. Squarely positioned at the interface between science and art, this volume's chapters capture a remarkable variety of perspectives, with neuroscience, chemistry, astronomy, physics, film, painting and music discussed in relation to the sublime experience, topics surely to peak the interest of academics and students studying the sublime in various disciplines. ... Read more

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This is the first book to present both classical and quantum-chemical approaches to computational methods, incorporating the many new developments in this field from the last few years. Written especially for "non"-theoretical readers in a readily comprehensible and implemental style, it includes numerous practical examples of varying degrees of difficulty. Similarly, the use of mathematical equations is reduced to a minimum, focusing only on those important for experimentalists. Backed by many extensive tables containing detailed data for direct use in the calculations, this is the ideal companion for all those wishing to improve their work in solid state research. ... Read more

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Chemists view of Materials
this book is excellently written for the chemists who are getting into materials science. the cross-over can sometimes be tough due to the "language barrier" in that materials typically uses different terms for subjects that chemists use. this book, being written specifically to bridge that gap, does an excellent job presenting the material for the chemists viewpoint.
the theory is well laid out and examples of computational approaches and discussion of results are clearly presented. the good and bad of methods are presented in an unbiased way allowing the reader to weigh all options in order to select an approach which is appropriate for their research.

i highly recommend this book for any upper level undergraduates of graduate student...or any chemist looking to cross over into the world of materials science.

Best Computational Cehm Book Ever!!
This is really well written and a realtively easily understandable book for the most of the people in computational and material chemistry. The most attractive point found for me was the fact that many different codes and methods are nicely compared and gave a guideline to find which would be the most suitable method for a specific task. This is one of my favorite books, and I recommend it to the people looking for computational chemistry books. ... Read more

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Chemistry in the last century was characterized by spectacular growth and advances, stimulated by revolutionary theories and experimental breakthroughs. Yet, despite this rapid development, the history of this scientific discipline has achieved only recently the status necessary to understand the effects of chemistry on the scientific and technological
culture of the modern world.
This book addresses the bridging of boundaries between chemistry and the other "classical" disciplines of science, physics and biology as well as the connections of chemistry to
mathematics and technology.
Chemical research is represented as an interconnected patchwork of scientific specialties, and this is shown by a mixture of case studies and broader overviews on the history of organic chemistry, theoretical chemistry, nuclear- and cosmochemistry, solid state chemistry, and biotechnology. All of these fields were at the center of the development of twentieth century chemistry, and the authors cover crucial topics such as the emergence of new subdisciplines and
research fields, the science-technology relationship, and national styles of scientific work.
This monograph represents a unique treasure trove for general historians and historians of science, while also appealing to
those interested in the theoretical background and development of modern chemistry. ... Read more

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Chapters: Roald Hoffmann, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Selman Waksman, Simon Kuznets. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 27. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt:Shmuel Yosef Agnon (Hebrew: , July 17, 1888 - February 17, 1970) was a Nobel Prize laureate writer and was one of the central figures of modern Hebrew fiction. In Hebrew, he is known by the acronym Shai Agnon, " In English, his works are published under the name S. Y. Agnon. Agnon was born in Galicia (today Ukraine), later immigrated to the British mandate of Palestine, and died in Jerusalem. His works deal with the conflict between the traditional Jewish life and language and the modern world. They also attempt to recapture the fading traditions of the European shtetl (village). In a wider context, he also contributed to broadening the characteristic conception of the narrator's role in literature. Agnon shared the Nobel Prize with the poet Nelly Sachs in 1966. Buczacz, Agnon's hometownAgnon was born Shmuel Yosef Halevi Czaczkes in Buczacz, Galicia (then within the Austro-Hungarian Empire), now Ukraine. Officially, his date of birth on the Hebrew calendar was 18 Av 5648 (July 26), but he always said his birthday was on the Jewish fast day of Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av. His father, Shalom Mordechai Halevy, was ordained as a rabbi, but worked in the fur trade. He did not attend school and was schooled by his parents. At the age of eight, he began to write in Hebrew and Yiddish. At the age of 15, he published his first poem - a Yiddish poem about the Kabbalist Joseph della Reina. He continued to write poems and stories in Hebrew and Yiddish, which were published in Galicia. In 1908, he immigrated to Jaffa. The first story he published there was "Agunot" ("Forsaken Wives"), which appeared that same year in the journal Ha`omer. He used the ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=29550 ... Read more

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Chapters: Stanislaw Ulam, Roald Hoffmann, Billy Wilder, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Karl Radek, Hugo Steinhaus, Melanie Klein, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Moise Kisling, Isaac Deutscher, Alexander Beliavsky, Lee Strasberg, Jacob Frank, Eliot Spitzer, Moses Schorr, Simon Wiesenthal, Leo Birinski, Martin Buber, Eric Kandel, Łucja Frey, Abba Hushi, Richard Von Mises, Salo Flohr, Bruno Schulz, Robert Kronfeld, Henryk Grossman, Jacob Itzhak Niemirower, Franciszek Zachara, Mordechai Rokeach, Edmond Wilhelm Brillant, Arthur Hertzberg, Arthur Frank Burns, Ben Zion Halberstam, Helena Rubinstein, Aharon Rokeach, Muhammad Asad, Lewis Bernstein Namier, Salomon Buber, Meir Balaban, Elimelech of Lizhensk, Israel Zolli, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Daniel Yanofsky, Ira Schnapp, Alicia Appleman-Jurman, Samuel Yellin, Emanuel Feuermann, Joseph Roth, František Kriegel, Salo Landau, Moses Horowitz, Chaim Elazar Spira, Walter Krivitsky, Mikhail Fridman, Julia Brystiger, Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Efraim Racker, Ostap Ortwin, Adam Ulam, Mieczysław Horszowski, David Josef Bach, Mordechai Gebirtig, Siegmund Glücksmann, Joseph Samuel Bloch, Aryeh Leib Hacohen Heller, Avigdor Aptowitzer, Nahman Avigad, Morris Gutstein, Joshua Falk, Stanisław Jerzy Lec, Nachman Krochmal, Leo Aryeh Mayer, Salo Wittmayer Baron, Hersch Lauterpacht, Max Margules, Henry Roth, Manfred Sakel, Jakub Karol Parnas, Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss, Elisabeth Bergner, Ignaz Friedman, List of Galician Jews, Emanuel Ax, Heinrich Schenker, Michael Dorfman, Rose Rand, Moshe Teitelbaum, Max Judd, Simhah Pinsker, Leopold Trepper, Wiktor Brillant, Isaac Erter, Kalman Kahana, Adolf Beck, Georges Charpak, Izak Aloni, Haim Nathan Dembitzer, Edward Gerstenfeld, Velvel Zbarjer, Leopold Infeld, Yissachar Dov Rokeach, Rena Kornreich Gelissen, Dov Berish Weidenfeld, Salomon Bochner, Josef Gerstmann, Maurycy Gottlieb, Cecilia Krieger, Oscar Chajes, Gideon Hausner, Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport, Naftali Herz Tur-Sinai, Iuliu Baras...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=21378255 ... Read more

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Chapters: Noam Chomsky, Isaac Stern, Roald Hoffmann, Fred Savage, Danny Kaye, Leonard Nimoy, Norman Granz, Bugsy Siegel, Philip Roth, Yakov Smirnoff, Lee Strasberg, Israel Gelfand, Abraham Zapruder, Valerie Plame, Abraham Goldfaden, David Lee Roth, Mila Kunis, Sasha Cohen, Leo Ornstein, Leo Birinski, Arthur Goldberg, Zellig Harris, Sheldon Adelson, Sholem Aleichem, Katey Sagal, Penny Pritzker, William S. Paley, David Geffen, Larisa Alexandrovna, Charles S. Zimmerman, Maya Deren, Raya Dunayevskaya, Samuel Roth, Jack Liebowitz, Phil Silvers, Selman Waksman, Marat Balagula, Stan Getz, Eugene Volokh, Joseph Schillinger, Jacob Marschak, Sam Muchnick, Mischa Elman, Jacob Mikhailovich Gordin, Morris Cohen, Jacob Golos, Alexander Kipnis, Baruch Ostrovsky, Igor Gorin, Bill Weisband, Boris Sidis, Pritzker Family, Abe Pollin, Mikhail Turovsky, Liesel Pritzker, Sy Bartlett, Harry Golden, David Berman, Beate Sirota, Max Levchin, Ron Gonen, Boris Sagal, Naoum Blinder, Sara Adler, Chaim Zanvl Abramowitz, Lewis J. Selznick, Philip Rahv, Abram Nicholas Pritzker, William Chomsky, Alexander Tetelbaum, Baruch Korff, Sam Palatnik, Jay Pritzker, Robert Pritzker, Zvee Scooler, Nicholas J. Pritzker, Daniel Pritzker, Arnold Lakhovsky, Linda Pritzker, Thomas Pritzker, Anthony Pritzker. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 479. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Avram Noam Chomsky (pronounced , Hebrew: ; born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and political activist. He is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chomsky is well known in the academic and scientific community as one of the fathers of modern linguistics. Since the 1960s, he has become known more widely as a political dissident and an anarchist....More: http://booksllc.net/?id=21566 ... Read more

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This digital document, covering the life and work of Roald Hoffmann, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 1174 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Roald Hoffmann (born July 18, 1937) is a Polish-American theoretical chemist who won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He currently teaches at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Hoffmann was born in Złoczów (Poland) to a Jewish family and was named in honor of the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen. He and his mother were among the only members of his immediate family to survive the Holocaust with the help from his Ukrainian neighbors, an experience which strongly influenced his beliefs and work. (A grandmother and several aunts, uncles, and cousins also survived.) They immigrated to the United States in 1949. In 2009, a monument to Holocaust victims was built in Zolochiv on the initiative of Hoffmann. Hoffmann graduated in 1955 from New York City's Stuyvesant High School, where he won a Westinghouse science scholarship. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree at Columbia University (Columbia College) in 1958. He earned his Master of Arts degree in 1960 and his Doctor of Philosophy degree, both from Harvard University, while working under the subsequent 1976 chemistry Nobel Prize winner William N. Lipscomb, Jr. ... Read more