Goethe-Institut
Giải Thưởng Khám Phá Của Rolls-Royce
The fact that solids could become liquid and liquids become gas inspired the early alchemists to apply such an art of transformation themselves. Mostly in search of the "Philosopher's Stone" that would transform base metals into gold. Even if all the attempts came to nothing, many an aberration yielded important insights. For example, in 1669, Hennig Brand tried to extract the philosopher's
stone from urine and discovered phosphorus. Many elements were found only after a chain of errors. At the end of the 19th century, a woman first began to fill in the gaps in the periodic table: Marie Curie. She discovered the elements radium and polonium. Until the end, she was convinced of the benefits of the radioactive radiation they emitted - for the treatment of tumors, for example. Curie did not live to see the first atomic bomb dropped. In this episode of the series, Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim explains the basics of a fascinating science that many people are skeptical about. "For many, chemistry is just a hated school subject that you couldn't drop fast enough, yet it explains this crazy fascinating world we live in," says the science journalist.
