Book to Note

David Phillips and James Barber, editors, The Life and Scientific Legacy of George Porter. London: Imperial College Press, 2006. xi + 640 pp. Cloth, $108; paper, $59.

Reviewed by István Hargittai

The physical chemist George Porter (1920–2002) shared the 1967 Nobel Prize with R. G. W. Norrish and Manfred Eigen for their use of flash photolysis to study fast chemical reactions. Porter served as director of the Royal Institution and later as president of the Royal Society. His television lecture series The Laws of Disorder brought the world of scientific investigation to hundreds of thousands of viewers. His contributions helped us understand the mechanism of chemical reactions and made chemistry less formidable for a great number of people. The present volume reflects well Porter’s multifaceted career as scientist, science administrator, and popularizer of science through his original papers and commentaries and papers written by colleagues and pupils. It is a rich, informative, and enjoyable compilation, not only for physical chemists but also for anyone interested in the chemical and molecular sciences.