Stephen Finney Mason
Published: 1992
Total Pages: 317
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Recent accounts of the chemical history of the universe have tended to emphasize either the inorganic or the organic aspects of chemical evolution, looking for example, at the nucleosynthesis of the chemical elements on the one hand, or the origin and development of living organisms on theother. This book takes the chemistry as the central science of all materials - inorganic and organic - at the molecular level, and brings together both aspects in a clear account of the development of ideas of chemical evolution.This fascinating survey covers the generation of the light chemical elements in the Big Bang, their transformation into heavier elements in the stars, the origin of the solar system, and the molecular evolution of minerals and organisms on the earth. Spanning the range from nuclear chemistry andradioactivity, through mineral and organic chemistry, to biochemistry and molecular biology, it adopts a historical approach to show how recent research has modified and extended earlier conclusions and conjectures. The book is essential reading for all those interested in the development ofscientific ideas on the origins of the universe, chemical matter, and life on earth.