The Lost Elements: The Periodic Table's Shadow Side

by Marco Fontani, Mariagrazia Costa, Mary Virginia Orna

In the mid-nineteenth century, chemists came to the conclusion that elements should be organized by their atomic weights. However, the atomic weights of various elements were calculated erroneously, and chemists also observed some anomalies in the properties of other elements. Over time, it became clear that the periodic table as currently comprised contained gaps, missing elements that had yet to be discovered. A rush to discover these missing pieces followed, and a seemingly endless amount of elemental discoveries were proclaimed and brought into laboratories. It wasn't until the discovery of the atomic number in 1913 that chemists were able to begin making sense of what did and what did not belong on the periodic table, but even then, the discovery of radioactivity convoluted the definition of an element further. Throughout its formation, the periodic table has seen false entries, good-faith errors, retractions, and dead ends; in fact, there have been more elemental "discoveries" that have proven false than there are current elements on the table.
The Lost Elements: The Shadow Side of Discovery collects the most notable of these instances, stretching from the nineteenth century to the present. The book tells the story of how scientists have come to understand elements, by discussing the failed theories and false discoveries that shaped the path of scientific progress. Chapters range from early chemists' stubborn refusal to disregard alchemy as legitimate practice, to the effects of the atomic number on discovery, to the switch in influence from chemists to physicists, as elements began to be artificially created in the twentieth century. Along the way, Fontani, Costa, and Orna introduce us to the key figures in the development of the periodic table as we know it. And we learn, in the end, that this development was shaped by errors and gaffs as much as by correct assumptions and scientific conclusions.

Genres: Science, Chemistry, History Of Science

576 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book, but has a couple of weaknesses, in my opinion. For one, the writing is definitely aimed at a scientific audience with solid knowledge of chemistry. There is very little explanation of the science and layman's terms, and had a hard time following some of the terminology, even after receiving my bachelor's degree in biochemistry (granted I consider myself more of a molecular biologist now).

With the exception of a couple of chapters, I also felt like the authors could have gone into more detail with many of the stories they included. This is especially rough in the first two sections, where to be fair, there isn't a lot of historical record to go off of, but many of the chapters read simply as a "so-and-so did this, thought it was an element, and called it this, but was wrong" without as much explanation about what they were actually looking at, why they were wrong, etc. This may be more a flaw in the concept behind the book in the first place, rather than the fault of the authors, but did make many sections of the book feel repetitive.

In spite of those flaws, there were some really interesting "lost" stories from the history of chemistry that don't get a lot of recognition because we found out that the proposed discoveries were incorrect. I particularly enjoyed the third and fourth sections for these reasons and because many of their chapters had more of a story to them, so I'm glad I pushed through and didn't decide to put it down after the first two "dry" sections. It's definitely not a book for everyone, but if you're really interested in the history of chemistry, I'd recommend it.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading about the history of science but I stopped about a third of the way through. It all started blurring together. I commend the authors for undertaking an exhaustive account of each shadow element. But an abridged collection of just the most interesting or noteworthy ones would have been easier to finish.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

more a reference than a book most would read

[Alan Earhart · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of this book rates between four and five stars with respect to the amazing amount of information in it. It did take me more than a year to read it because I would read a few pages, put it down, pick it up, and read some more. Wash, rinse, repeat. It's not the type of book I can read from cover-to-cover but that's not intended to be a criticism of the writing style. I found it to be clear and entertaining. A wonderful set of citations, also.

And the amount of information in it. WOW! Almost everything I had read about the elements and their organization into the periodic table was primarily about what had been discovered and little about what had not been discovered.

Hmm... that reads weird.

Anyway, I had read little about discoveries of elements that were mistaken. If you stop and think about it for a moment, surely there must have been many of these false discoveries over the years and this book puts so many of them in context. Overall a very enjoyable read.

So why did I give it only one star? In reading a review about it on Amazon I came across something unfortunate. The last part on alchemy appears to be from Robert A. Nelson's Adept Alchemy . I was shocked and went to the page and it appears to be true. You can match chapter titles along with the text with some additions along with some alterations (see Part II).

Damn shame.

[Phil Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chemistry is hard. I formed this opinion in my undergraduate days, but hadn't thought much about it until I started reading The Lost Elements: The Periodic Table's Shadow Side by Marco Fontani, Mariagrazia Costa, and Mary Virginia Oma. That's when I realized, I had no idea the challenges chemists faced prior to the twentieth century. My experience with the well-ordered periodic table is a far cry from the early, atomic-weight-based ordering of elements, where gaping holes, potential discoveries, and national pride sometimes weighed in.

More than once in the book's many asides and wanderings I suddenly came upon a reason for something I thought I already knew. Where did muriatic acid get its name? What about xenon? The stories of unknown scientists making careless or hasty "discoveries" were so common that they started to merge together over time. What were far and away more enticing were the stories of well-known names in chemistry and how they could discover one or more real elements, but then make the same or similar mistakes as their forgotten counterparts. While
an exhaustive but sometimes repetitive narrative, there are some real gems scattered throughout.

[Lili · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review, and this is such:

Alas, I was not paying attention to the archive date, just the publish date, and selected to review this book right before it archived. Luckily I was able to read some of it before it was archived, of course this only made me more curious to read all of it. My usual speed read tactics did not apply here because this book is pretty dense, both is size and subject matter. I found myself getting side-tracked looking up bits of information I was curious about and taking notes, much like I would with a textbook. It has a textbook feel without being dry, which is always a pleasure. It is also always a pleasure to see how many blunders there were in creating the Periodic Table! I always knew it was hit or miss and there were some serious errors, but I never realized there were that many, I found that intriguing enough to want to read the rest of this book when it comes out. And of course with keeping in the theme of blunders, making sure I don't mistake archiving and publishing dates.

[Mills College Library]

546.8 F681 2015