Physical Chemistry from Ostwald to Pauling

John W. Servos is Professor of History at Amherst College.

"Servos has shed considerable light on a key issue, the formation of new scientific disciplines, by his penetrating analysis of the rise of physical chemistry in America.... I cannot recall any other recent book in this field that has managed to combine such high standards of verbal clarity, smoothness of narrative, and sheer elegance, with intellectual rigor and extensive archival research."---Peter Morris, History of Science --- "In his careful accounting of the emergence of a new discipline at the boundaries between chemistry and physics, and of the upheaval that it wrought throughout chemistry, Servos has made his own contribution to reform, and for that reason his book deserves wide attention.... [He] illustrate[s] the fact that science is, above all, a human enterprise, shaped by personalities, communities, and institutions, as well as ideas."---Robert Friedel, Science --- "Co-Winner of the 1991 Pfizer Most Outstanding Book Award, History of Science Society"