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| Peter Atkins is professor of chemistry at Oxford University, a fellow of Lincoln College, and the author of more than thirty books for students and a general audience. They have earned him an international reputation for communicating the excitement of chemistry. A frequent lecturer in the United States and throughout the world on chemistry and chemical education, he has held visiting professorships in Israel, France, Japan, China, and New Zealand. He firmly believes that visualization is crucial in developing chemical insight, and he creates the drawings in his books himself. Professor Atkins worked in industry for two years before studying at Leicester University, where he received his Ph.D., and at the University of California, Los Angeles. His Physical Chemistry broke new ground by stressing understanding above the memorization of facts and formulas. Nearly 20 years later, it is still the leading text in its field. His other books include Inorganic Chemistry (with D. F. Shriver and C. H. Langford); Molecules, The Second Law, and Atoms, Electrons, and Change (all volumes for the Scientific American Library); and, most recently, Molecular Quantum Mechanics (with R. S. Friedman) and The Periodic Kingdom. He serves on the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry's committee on physical chemistry. |