Asimov

Asimov, I. (1965). A Short History of Chemistry. Garden Cicy, NY Dnuhlcday. 

From calculations of I. Asimov J. Chem. Ed.) 31, 70 (1954) on the daia of B. Gutenberg (Editor) Internal Consiituiion of the Earlh 2nd Ed. Dover Publications, New York, 1951, p. 87. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. 

The direct focus of the present paper, however, is not this general issue, but rather a famous particular case from the history of science that has become embroiled in it. The episode involves Mendeleev and the prediction of the existence of hitherto unknown elements on the basis of his celebrated periodic table. According to an account that has widespread currency, Mendeleev s table was given little or no general credit by his contemporary scientists in virtue of its accommodation of the already known elements. What really told with Mendeleev s peers, according to this account, was the fact that gaps in the table were used as the basis of predictions of the existence of hitherto unrecognised elements, that turned out really to exist. So, for example, Isaac Asimov writes ... 

This again follows several popular accounts. For example, Asimov (1975) immediately follows his remark that Mendeleev was suddenly the most famous chemist in the world with (what we are presumably to take as evidence for this) The Royal Society awarded him the Davy medal in 1882 and other honors were showered on him. ... 

Asimov, Isaac. The Greek s four universal elements - and then some. Smithsonian (Apr 1971). 

Asimov, Isaac. The search for the elements. Basic Books, 1962. 144p. 

Isaac Asimov here relates the story of the long quest to identify the stuff of which the universe is made. From Thales of Miletus to Seaborg of California, from alchemy to the cyclotron, from the search for the secret of turning lead into gold to the making of artificial elements, it has been a tale of follies, fakery, brilliant discoveries, and steadily building excitement... 

Asimov, Isaac. A short history of chemistry an introduction to the ideas and concepts of chemistry., 1965. 

Isaac Asimov. Asimov s Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Garden City, NY Doubleday Co., Inc., 1972. Source for Coumarin. 

Asimov, I. (2002), Atoms Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos, Penguin, New York. Asimov, I. (1974), Building Blocks of the Universe, Abelard-Schuman, New York. Asimov, I. (1962), The Search for the Elements, Basic Books, New York. 

I. Asimov, The Search for the Elements, Fawcett World Library, New York, 1962. 

Ernsting, N.R, Asimov, M., and Shaefer, F.R (1982) The electronic origin of the p-p absorption of amino coumarins studied in a supersonically cooled free jet. Cbem. Pbys. Lett. 91, 231. 

Thiotimoline is a substance that has been (fictitiously) reported to dissolve a short time before being added to water [Asimov (1948)]. What inevitable effects could be caused by such a substance ... 

Asimov, I. (1948), The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline , Astounding Science Fiction. 

Asimov, Isaac. Asimovs Bio aphical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. New York Doubleday, 1964. 

Asimovs Chronology of Science and Discovery. New York Harper Row, 1989. 

The use of rubber for sports balls and for waterproofing fabric had been noted by Christopher Columbus in his voyages to America, but the results had not been satisfactory (Asimov 1989). Natural rubber is a polymer of the isoprene molecule (CsHs) with molecular weight in the order of 200,000, and consists of thousands of chains with short side chains. 

Asimov, I. 1989. Asimov s Chronology of Science and Discovery. New York HarperCoUins. BiUmeyer, F. W. 1971. Textbook of Polymer Science. New York Wiley-Interscience. 

As I mentioned, I ve been collecting colorful words and phrases since high school. A few years ago I compiled a science-fiction phrase book to help budding science-fiction writers dress up their stories. I had even sent the book to Isaac Asimov who said he personally did not need such a book but that he would pass it on to one of his editors. Alas, no publisher was interested in it, although similar books have been published such as Jean Kent and Candace Shelton s Aowawce Writer s Phrase Book, which is a list of colorful phrases and words that novelists could steal and use. 

I don t know how writers like Isaac Asimov were so prolific before the age of the computer. I would have a very difficult time writing books, and doing all the necessary text rearrangements and editing, without a word processor. Asmiov had a U-shaped desk and three typewriters in his office. If he ever became bored or stuck on one project, he simply swiveled his chair and worked on another project. 

According to the New York Public Library Desk Reference (4th ed.), Isaac Asimov wrote over 400 books and is the only author with a book included in every maj or Dewey-decimal category. I sit in awe of Asimov, but a few people have exceeded his book output. Lauran Paine (b. 1916) has published over 900 books under more than 90 pen names. Paine... 

Asimov, I. (1947) Little Lost Robot. Describes the use of Hyperatomic Drive shortened to Hyperdrive. Fooling around with hyper-space isn t fun. We run the risk of blowing a hole in normal space-time fabric and dropping right out of the universe. ... 

Asimov, I. (1992) The Stars Like Dust. New York Spectra. (Originally published in 1950.) Describes travel in hyperspace. 

Martin, G. R. R. (1978) FTA, in 100 Great Science Fiction Short Stories. I. Asimov, M. Greenberg, and J. Olander, eds. New York Doubleday. Hyperspace turns out not to be a shortcut for space travel. 

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