The 1702 Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge

Mary Archer is a former Fellow and Lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. She currently sits on the Chemistry Advisory Board and chaired the Tercentenary Steering Group in the Chemistry Department at the University of Cambridge. Christopher Haley was formerly Archivist and Historian of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge.

• List of contributors; Preface; Holders of the 1702 Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge; Illustration acknowledgements; 1. 'The deplorable frenzy': the slow legitimisation of chemical practice at Cambridge University Kevin Knox; 2. Vigani and after: chemical enterprise in Cambridge 1680–1780 Simon Schaffer and Larry Stewart; 3. Richard Watson: gaiters and gunpowder Colin Russell; 4. Lavoisier's chemistry comes to Cambridge Christopher Haley and Peter Wothers; 5. Smithson Tennant: the innovative and eccentric eighth professor of chemistry Melvyn Usselman; 6. Coming and going: the fitful career of James Cumming William Brock; 7. Chemistry at Cambridge under George Downing Liveing John Shorter; 8. The rise and fall of the 'Papal State' Arnold Thackray and Mary Ellen Bowden; 9. Alexander Todd: a new direction in organic chemistry James Baddiley and Daniel M. Brown; 10. Ralph Alexander Raphael: organic synthesis - elegance, efficiency and the unexpected Bill Nolan, Dudley Williams and Robert Ramage; 11. Discovering the wonders of how nature builds its molecules Alan Battersby; 12. Chemistry in a changing world: new tools for the modern molecule maker Steven Ley; Index.

'This book describes some remarkable characters. It is handsomely produced and well compiled.' Chemistry World