Roald Hoffmann on the Philosophy, Art, and Science of Chemistry

Roald Hoffmann on the Philosophy, Art, and Science of Chemistry, edited by Jeffrey Kovac and Michael Weisberg

Synopsis: Nobel laureate Roald Hoffmann’s contributions to chemistry are well known. Less well known, however, is that over a career that spans nearly fifty years, Hoffmann has thought and written extensively about a wide variety of other topics, such as chemistry’s relationship to philosophy, literature, and the arts, including the nature of chemical reasoning, the role of symbolism and writing in science, and the relationship between art and craft and science. In Roald Hoffmann on the Philosophy, Art, and Science of Chemistry, Jeffrey Kovac and Michael Weisberg bring together twenty-eight of Hoffmann’s most important essays. Gathered here are Hoffmann’s most philosophically significant and interesting essays and lectures, many of which are not widely accessible. In essays such as “Why Buy That Theory,” “Nearly Circular Reasoning,” “How Should Chemists Think,” “The Metaphor, Unchained,” “Art in Science,” and “Molecular Beauty,” we find the mature reflections of one of America’s leading scientists. Organized under the general headings of Chemical Reasoning and Explanation, Writing and Communicating, Art and Science, Education, and Ethics, these stimulating essays provide invaluable insight into the teaching and practice of science.

Published: January 2012 | ISBN: 978-0199755905

Roald’s Homepage: http://www.roaldhoffmann.com

Mini-bio: Jeffrey Kovac, Professor of Chemistry and Director of College Scholars, University of Tennessee. Jeffrey Kovac was educated at Reed College (B.A, 1970) and Yale University (M.Phil, 1972 and Ph.D., 1974). After two years as a research associate at MIT he joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee where he is currently Professor of Chemistry and Director of College Scholars. – OUP

Mini-bio: Michael Weisberg is an American philosopher who is professor and chair of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also co-director of the Penn Laboratory for Understanding Science and the Galápagos Education and Research Alliance. He is also Associate Director for Outreach of mindCORE. Wikipedia