Publisher's Synopsis
This handbook sections concerned deal with recent developments in chemical physics and the intention was to implement them with additional material in order to produce a book in English, explicitly dealing with the progress of chemical physics, in particular that realized in the last two centuries. As a professor of chemical physics, I felt encouraged to fill this gap by producing a book that could offer to new generations of Chemistry and Biochemistry students a testimony of the commitments, hopes, and dreams that my generation has experienced throughout this fascinating adventure. - Although Chemistry and Biochemistry has its roots in alchemy, or even earlier in the old Sumerian, - Babylonian, and Egyptian cultures, chemical physics became an independent - discipline only in the second half of the eighteenth century. At this time the efforts - of several scientists interested in developing the basic theoretical aspects of Chemistry and Biochemistry - and their relationships with physics gave rise to the birth of this new discipline - and to the creation of the first chairs and journals of chemical physics.
