Chemistry: A Volatile History Chemistry: A Volatile History Chemistry: A Volatile History is a 2010 BBC documentary on the history of chemistry presented by Jim Al-Khalili. It was nominated for the 2010 British Academy Television Awards in the category Specialist Factual. Only in the last 200 years have we known what an element is – a substance that cannot be broken down further by chemical reaction. The Ancient Greeks, with no way of breaking open substances, could only base their ideas of the elements on what they could see: Earth, Fire, Water and Air. In the 16th century alchemists were busy trying to turn
Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics The Institute's aim has been defined as "the implementation of physical theories and methods into chemistry, chemical industry and some other branches of national economy". Its main areas of scientific inquiry are the kinetics and mechanism of chemical reactions, catalysis of chemical reactions, theory and dynamics of elementary processes, physics and chemistry of solids, structure and properties of polymers and composites, fundamentals of polymerization processes, physics and chemistry of combustion, shock waves and detonation. In 1956, a branch of the Institute of Chemical Physics was established in Chernogolovka; this was reorganized in 1997 as the independent Institute of Problems of