錬金術、近代化学、17-19世紀の「空気の化学」、ラヴォアジエによる質量保存の法則の発見、有機化学や物理化学の進歩、そして合成化学…。化学はいつの時代も物理学・生物学・工学分野を裏打ちする中心的学問であり続けてきました。不思議な変化を示すさまざまな物質や、発展に貢献した人物を紹介しながら、この分野の歩み、そして魅力を概観します。
　　

• Contains the most recent interpretations by historians of chemistry
• Reveals the richness and diversity of chemistry in experimentation, theory, and analysis
• Raises philosophical issues concerning the nature of chemical change
• Explores the historical tension between physicists' and chemists' approaches to chemical transformation

  
From man's first exploration of natural materials and their transformations to today's materials science, chemistry has always been the central discipline that underpins both the physical and biological sciences, as well as technology. 

In this Very Short Introduction, William H Brock traces the unique appeal of this fundamental science throughout history. Covering alchemy, early-modern chemistry, pneumatic chemistry and Lavoisier's re-interpretation of chemical change, the rise of organic and physical chemistry, and the transforming power of synthesis, Brock explores the extraordinary and often puzzling transformations of natural and artificial materials, as well as the men and women who experimented, speculated, and explained matter and change.