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Petrochemical history
Hi! I'm very interested in history of chemics, for example when different chemicals where discovered. For example when dry destillation of wood was
common, it led to that chemicals like methanol and acetone was discovered and analysed. When gas lumination was common, chemists found other chemicals
in the coal tar and gas water (byproducts of the gas lumination), for example phenol and benzene.
Now I wonder a little about what happend after that Edwin Drake succesfully had drilled the först oil well in Pennsylvania in 1858, how did that
affect the chemics? I could think that it led to the discovery of many chemicals and chemical synteses, but I don't know so much about them, or when
they happened. Is there anyone that knows anything about this, I would be glad to know as much as possible.
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Xenon1898
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Chemical Industry history
Perhaps this link might provide some initial information and get you started on learning the history you want:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_industry
Cross referencing with other information on Google and so on will get you tons of information.
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
-Albert Einstein
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Thanks! I found many new things there, especially that about James Young and Abraham Gesner.
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IrC
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An interesting history of chemistry advances in war and during peace is in the library.
http://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/the_scientif...
Another book you may like:
http://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/the_ageless_...
This book covers the historical aspect as well as the chemistry of liquid rocket fuels.
http://library.sciencemadness.org/library/books/ignition.pdf
There are many very good and informative books there which you may not have been aware of. I would take a look, you will find much to study. Reading
through these books can advance ones knowledge of both chemistry and historical aspects of the science.
http://library.sciencemadness.org/library/index.html
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" Richard Feynman
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Xenon1898
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Nice reference
IrC, thanks for the liquid rocket fuel reference. I had fun building rockets in high school years ago, and I have always had a soft spot for rocket
fuel chemistry and engineering (thus leading to a career in chemical engineering). Never saw this reference before, thank you!
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
-Albert Einstein
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IrC, thanks, very interesting! I can recommend Isaac Asimov's "A short history of chemics", it's an excellent introduction to the history of chemics,
very well written too.
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