Read more
The autobiography of a Nobel Prize winner, this book tells us about George Olah's fascinating research into extremely strong superacids and how it yielded the common term "magic acids." Olah guides us through his long and remarkable journey, from Budapest to Cleveland to Los Angeles, with a stopover in Stockholm. This updated autobiography of a Nobel Prize winner George A. Olah:
* Chronicles the distinguished career of a chemist whose work in a broad range of chemistry areas, and most notably that in methane chemistry, led to technologies that impact the processing and utility of alternative fuels
* Is based on Olah's work on extremely strong superacids and how they yielded the common term, "magic acids"
* Details events since the publication of the first edition in 2000
* Inspires readers with details on Dr. Olah's successful recent research on methanol, intended to help provide a solution to "the oil problem"
List of contents
Preface ix
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Chapter 2 Perspectives on Science 4
Chapter 3 Chemistry: The Multifaceted Central Science 21
Chapter 4 Growing Up in Hungary and Turning to Chemistry 38
Chapter 5 Early Research and Teaching: Departing the Shadow of Emil Fischer 51
Chapter 6 Move to North America: Industrial Experience While Pursuing the Elusive Cations of Carbon 64
Chapter 7 Return to Academia--The Cleveland Years: Carbocations, Magic Acid, and Superacid Chemistry 84
Chapter 8 Moving to Los Angeles: Hydrocarbon Research and Building the Loker Institute 108
Chapter 9 The Nonclassical Ion Controversy and Its Significance 137
Chapter 10 From Kekul´e's Four-Valent Carbon to Five- and Higher Coordinate Hypercarbon Chemistry 154
Chapter 11 The Nobel Prize: Learning to Live with It and Not Rest on Laurels 170
Chapter 12 Research in Post-Nobel Years: From Superacids to Superelectrophiles 189
Chapter 13 Renewable Carbon Chemistry: Anthropogenic Chemical Cycle with CO2 Capture and Recycling to Methanol 206
Chapter 14 Rendering Methanol, A Renewable Carbon Source and Fuel: Direct and Regenerative Methanol Fuel Cell 225
Chapter 15 The Concept and Development of the Methanol Economy 242
Chapter 16 Gone My Way 254
Chapter 17 Concluding Remarks 294
Appendix My Previous Books for References and Additional Reading 297
Curriculum Vitae of George Andrew Olah 300
Index 306
About the author
Born in 1927 in Budapest, Hungary, George A. Olah obtained his doctorate at the Technical University of Budapest, and is now a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Institute at the University of Southern California. He has received numerous awards and recognitions worldwide, including memberships in various academies of science and 12 honorary degrees. He has some 1,400 scientific papers, 20 books and more than 140 patents to his name. In 1994, Prof Olah was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discoveries.
Summary
The autobiography of a Nobel Prize winner, this book tells us about George Olah's fascinating research into extremely strong superacids and how it yielded the common term "magic acids." Olah guides us through his long and remarkable journey, from Budapest to Cleveland to Los Angeles, with a stopover in Stockholm. This updated autobiography of a Nobel Prize winner George A. Olah:
* Chronicles the distinguished career of a chemist whose work in a broad range of chemistry areas, and most notably that in methane chemistry, led to technologies that impact the processing and utility of alternative fuels
* Is based on Olah's work on extremely strong superacids and how they yielded the common term, "magic acids"
* Details events since the publication of the first edition in 2000
* Inspires readers with details on Dr. Olah's successful recent research on methanol, intended to help provide a solution to "the oil problem"
