The American Synthetic Rubber Research Program

The American Synthetic Rubber Research Program
Author: Peter J. T. Morris
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2017-01-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 151281816X

This history of the government-funded synthetic rubber research program (1942-1956) offers a rare analysis of a cooperative research program geared to the improvement of existing products and the creation of new ones. The founders of the program believed the best way to further research in the new field was through collaboration among corporations, universities, and the federal government. Morris concludes that, in fact, the effort was ultimately a failure and that vigorous competition proves the best way to stimulate innovation. Government programs, like the rubber research program, are far better at improving existing products, the author contends, than creating wholly new ones.

Getting It Right in Science and Medicine

Getting It Right in Science and Medicine
Author: Hans R. Kricheldorf
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2016-05-31
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319303880

This book advocates the importance and value of errors for the progress of scientific research! Hans Kricheldorf explains that most of the great scientific achievements are based on an iterative process (an ‘innate self-healing mechanism’): errors are committed, being checked over and over again, through which finally new findings and knowledge can arise. New ideas are often first confronted with refusal. This is so not only in real life, but also in scientific and medical research. The author outlines in this book how great ideas had to ripen over time before winning recognition and being accepted. The book showcases in an entertaining way, but without schadenfreude, that even some of the most famous discoverers may appear in completely different light, when regarding errors they have committed in their work. This book is divided into two parts. The first part creates a fundament for the discussion and understanding by introducing important concepts, terms and definitions, such as (natural) sciences and scientific research, laws of nature, paradigm shift, and progress (in science). It compares natural sciences with other scientific disciplines, such as historical research or sociology, and examines the question if scientific research can generate knowledge of permanent validity. The second part contains a collection of famous fallacies and errors from medicine, biology, chemistry, physics and geology, and how they were corrected. Readers will be astonished and intrigued what meanders had to be explored in some cases before scientists realized facts, which are today’s standard and state-of-the-art of science and technology. This is an entertaining and amusing, but also highly informative book not only for scientists and specialists, but for everybody interested in science, research, their progress, and their history!

Polycondensation

Polycondensation
Author: Hans Kricheldorf
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2013-11-19
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3642394299

This book reports on origin and history of polycondensation chemistry beginning in the first half of the 19th century. Furthermore, history and inventors of the most important polycondensates, such as Nylons, PET or polycarbonates, are described. The classical theory of step-growth polymerizations is discussed in the light of the latest experimental and theoretical results. Particular emphasis is laid on the role of cyclization reactions. Special categories of polycondensation processes are discussed in more detail: syntheses of hyperbranched and multicyclic polymers, non-stoichiometric polycondensations, interfacial polycondensations, solid state polycondensations, condensative chain polymerizations etc.

Chemists

Chemists
Author: Dean Miller
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2014-01-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1627125558

In this book, a breakdown of the life and work of some of history's pioneers in the study of chemistry are thoroughly explored. This biographical view provides excellent sketches for trailblazers in the area of chemistry. Articles are devoted to specific scientists, covering their contributions to their field, specifically addressing how their research, discoveries, and inventions impacted human understanding and experience. Most importantly, this book provides a chapter specifically devoted to the top scientific contributors of the 21st century, bringing readers current with both timely events and successes that have moved human kind forward.

Polymer Pioneers

Polymer Pioneers
Author: Peter J. Morris
Publisher: Chemical Heritage Foundation
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2005-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780941901031

Accompanied by an introductory overview of the history of polymer science, this book contains biographical sketches of 12 pioneers, from Marcellin Berthollet and John Wesley Hyatt to Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta. It also includes time charts before each chapter that summarise significant events.

Polymer Yearbook

Polymer Yearbook
Author: Richard A. Pethrick
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 430
Release: 1987
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9783718604081

This volume contains reviews on state-of-the-art Japanese research presented in the annual Spring and Autumn meetings of the Japanese Polymer Science Society. The aim of this section is to make information on the progress of Japanese Polymer Science, and on topics of current interest to polymer scientists in Japan, more easily available worldwide.