The Development of Catalysis: A History of Key Processes and Personas in Catalytic Science and Technology

With a solid theoretical structure and a powerful legacy of experimental equipment, chemistry holds a prime position among the sciences. Over the centuries, its participants came to realize, either from everyday experience or inventive intuition, that chemical reactions could be made possible or facilitated using novel substances like catalysts or through the modification of physical parameters.

The Development of Catalysis: A History of Key Processes and Personas in the Development of Catalytic Technology presents the highlights of the catalytic chemistry revolution from beginnings through modern days, in terms of the life and achievements of the era s luminaries. Readers and experts will better understand the enormous influence that catalysis has given to the development of modern societies.

Although containing many historical details, the book is not a strict history of catalysis, but rather reviews catalytic processes discovered in the last 300 years. Each chapter reviews the chronological sequence of discoveries, their innovative character, and concise biographies of the main involved scientists.

The book content is partitioned into 9 chapters devoted to specific classes of processes and catalytic reactions. As such, The Development of Catalysis not only gives a complete overview of all industrial processes, but also fills the gap in publications that cover the history of specific catalytic processes.

Adriano Zecchina, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of the University of Turin, where he was full professor of Physical Chemistry from 1975 to 2009. He is a member of the Ownership board of PCCP (Physical Chemistry and Chemical Physics) of the Turin Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Lincei, and Europaea Academy. 

Salvatore Califano, PhD, is the director of the European Laboratory of Molecular Spectroscopy in Florence, Italy. His main research focuses on dynamics of molecular crystals and determination of the lifetime of phonons and vibrons by pico– and femto– second spectroscopy or by high resolution infrared and Raman spectroscopy.