Image and reality : Kekulé, Kopp, and the scientific imagination / Alan J. Rocke.

Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2010.

xxvi, 375 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Ether/or -- Springtime for chemistry? -- The education of Alexander Williamson -- Interpreting chemical atoms -- Williamson and Graham -- Grasping the ether -- The experimental dissection of organic molecules -- Excursus: isolated radicals? -- The spread of Williamsonian theory -- The architect of molecules -- The education of August Kekulé -- Kekulé in London -- Excursus: the road to Valence -- Molecular dreams -- Building an unseen structure -- The start of a teaching career -- Early work in Heidelberg -- The theory of polyatomic radicals -- The theory of atomicity of the elements -- Molecular epistemology -- A barometer of the science -- Writing a textbook -- Formulas, models, reality -- Excursus: a case in point -- Erlenmeyer and Kekulé -- Constant or variable atomicity? -- The heuristics of molecular representation -- Couper -- Loschmidt -- Butlerov -- Crum Brown -- Excursus: heurism in action -- The fate of the new graphic formulas -- Molecules as metaphors -- Natural types -- Absolute formulas -- Excursus: looking through the stereoscope -- Molecular democracy or autocracy? -- The revenge of Jupiter's children -- Aromatic apparitions -- First approaches to the problem -- Enter the hexagon -- Benzene through the phenakistoscope -- Excursus: ring around the rosie -- Metachemistry? -- Dimensional molecules -- Early stereospatial speculations -- The spiral staircase -- The pyramid -- Imagination in science: point/counterpoint -- Chemists, physicists, and the microworld -- Kopp's world -- The making of a chemist-historian -- In amongst the molecules -- The response -- The thirsty chemists -- Kekulé's dreams -- The festivities in Berlin -- Kekulé's speech -- The aftermath -- The eureka experience and the unconscious mind -- The scientific image-ination -- Mental images and science -- Mental images and history -- Transdictive images in physics and in chemistry.

Includes bibliographical references and index.