My Life in the Golden Age of Chemistry: More Fun Than Fun

A giant in the field and at times a polarizing figure, F. Albert Cotton’s contributions to inorganic chemistry and the area of transitions metals are substantial and undeniable. In his own words, My Life in the Golden Age of Chemistry: More Fun than Fun describes the late chemist’s early life and college years in Philadelphia, his graduate training and research contributions at Harvard with Geoffrey Wilkinson, and his academic career from becoming the youngest ever full professor at MIT (aged 31) to his extensive time at Texas A&M. Professor Cotton’s autobiography offers his unique perspective on the advances he and his contemporaries achieved through one of the most prolific times in modern inorganic chemistry, in research on the then-emerging field of organometallic chemistry, metallocenes, multiple bonding between transition metal atoms, NMR and ESR spectroscopy, hapticity, and more. Working during a time of generous government funding of science and strong sponsorship for good research, Professor Cotton’s experience and observations provide insight into this prolific and exciting period of chemistry.

Offers personal and often wry perspective from this prominent chemist and recipient of some of science’s highest honors: the U.S. National Medal of Science (1982), the Priestley Medal (the American Chemical Society's highest recognition, 1998), membership in the U. S. National Academy of Sciences and corresponding international bodies, and 29 honorary doctoratesDetails the background behind the development and emergence of groundbreaking research in organometallic chemistry and transition metalsProvides beautifully-written and engaging insight into a "Golden Age of Chemistry" and the work of historically renowned chemists

1: Philadelphia
2: Harvard Years
3: MIT 1955-1960
4: MIT 1961-1971
5: MIT 1961-1971: Mostly About Science
6: Yee Ha! Off to Texas
7: Good Times in the 1980s
8: From 1990 to the End of the Millennium
9: The New Millennium
10: More About People
11: A Concluding Miscellany
12: Epilogue
Appendices