Oxygen by Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann, Wiley-VCH,
$14.95/£9.99, ISBN 3527304134
PLAYS about scientists seem to be in fashion, and Oxygen is about
three of them—all candidates vying for recognition as the discoverer of
oxygen. We usually attribute the discovery to Antoine Lavoisier, who was later
caught up in the maelstrom of French revolutionary terror and guillotined.
Joseph Priestley and Carl Wilhelm Scheele also have claims to the title, though
both clung to the idea of phlogiston as the “vital air” that made combustion
possible.
When the Nobel Committee proposes to award a “retro-prize” to the true
discoverer,…
