Since Mendeleev outlined the modern periodic table in 1869, many new uses have been found for the 92 naturally occurring elements. This book travels back in time to describe the utilization of materials familiar (gold, copper, iron) and arcane (arsenic, boron, red ochre) and their practical history (mining, metallurgy and crafts), with evidence from archaeology and geology. Together with the technological developments, author Robert Boyle portrays the advances in our understanding of materials science which led to modern geological and environmental sciences. It is a source book valuable to students of history and archaeology, mining and metallurgy, as well as to geologists, mineralogists and geochemists everywhere.

Early Earth Systems provides a complete history of the Earth from its beginnings to the end of the Archaean. This journey through the Earth's early history begins with the Earth's origin, then examines the evolution of the mantle, the origin of the continental crust, the origin and evolution of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans, and ends with the origin of life. Looks at the evidence for the Earth's very early differentiation into core, mantle, crust, atmosphere and oceans and how this differentiation saw extreme interactions within the Earth system. Discusses Archaean Earth processes within the framework of the Earth System Science paradigm, providing a qualitative assessment of the principal reservoirs and fluxes in the early Earth. “The book would be perfect for a graduate-level or upper level undergraduate course on the early Earth. It will also serve as a great starting point for researchers in solid-Earth geochemistry who want to know more about the Earth’s early atmosphere and biosphere, and vice versa for low temperature geochemists who want to get a modern overview of the Earth’s interior.” Geological Magazine, 2008

A comprehensive introductory textbook to isotope techniques for undergraduate and graduate courses.

The legacy of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) looms large over the natural sciences. His 1799–1804 research expedition to Central and South America with botanist Aimé Bonpland set the course for the great scientific surveys of the nineteenth century, and inspired such essayists and artists as Emerson, Goethe, Thoreau, Poe, and Church. The chronicles of the expedition were published in Paris after Humboldt’s return, and first among them was the 1807 “Essay on the Geography of Plants.” Among the most cited writings in natural history, after the works of Darwin and Wallace, this work appears here for the first time in a complete English-language translation. Covering far more than its title implies, it represents the first articulation of an integrative “science of the earth, ” encompassing most of today’s environmental sciences. Ecologist Stephen T. Jackson introduces the treatise and explains its enduring significance two centuries after its publication.

As 2019 has been declared the International Year of the Periodic Table, it is appropriate that Structure and Bonding marks this anniversary with two special volumes. In 1869 Dmitri Ivanovitch Mendeleev first proposed his periodic table of the elements. He is given the major credit for proposing the conceptual framework used by chemists to systematically inter-relate the chemical properties of the elements. However, the concept of periodicity evolved in distinct stages and was the culmination of work by other chemists over several decades. For example, Newland’s Law of Octaves marked an important step in the evolution of the periodic system since it represented the first clear statement that the properties of the elements repeated after intervals of 8. Mendeleev’s predictions demonstrated in an impressive manner how the periodic table could be used to predict the occurrence and properties of new elements. Not all of his many predictions proved to be valid, but the discovery of scandium, gallium and germanium represented sufficient vindication of its utility and they cemented its enduring influence. Mendeleev’s periodic table was based on the atomic weights of the elements and it was another 50 years before Moseley established that it was the atomic number of the elements, that was the fundamental parameter and this led to the prediction of further elements. Some have suggested that the periodic table is one of the most fruitful ideas in modern science and that it is comparable to Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, proposed at approximately the same time. There is no doubt that the periodic table occupies a central position in chemistry. In its modern form it is reproduced in most undergraduate inorganic textbooks and is present in almost every chemistry lecture room and classroom. This first volume provides chemists with an account of the historical development of the Periodic Table and an overview of how the Periodic Table has evolved over the last 150 years. It also illustrates how it has guided the research programmes of some distinguished chemists.