Editorial Reviews
From Scientific American
Although it would be great fun to see Oxygen performed, the play makes an entertaining read. Its premise is that the Nobel Foundation, in honor of the centenary of the prize, decides to award a "retro-Nobel" for the discovery of oxygen-but should it go to Antoine Lavoisier, Joseph Priestly or Carl Wilhelm Scheele? The action alternates between 1777 and 2001, the tensions and ambiguities of the 18th century mirrored in the 21st. The play opens in a sauna in Stockholm, where the wives of the three scientists ("their bodies covered to various extents... Mrs. Priestly most decorously and Mme. Lavoisier most daringly") reveal the rivalry among their husbands. Oxygen is an imaginative addition to the long list of publications-from the sciences to poetry and fiction-by the distinguished authors. Djerassi is professor of chemistry at Stanford and perhaps best known as the inventor of the birth-control pill. Hoffmann is professor of chemistry at Cornell and a Nobel laureate.
EDITORS OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
Review
Part of a feature story on Carl Djerassi: "It is 50 years since Carl Djerassi invented the contraceptive pill... and changed human behaviour for good. He has not stood still since... His latest work... a play called... "Oxygen"... examines the nature of achievement and accolades." (The Economist Technology Quarterly, June 23, 2001)
Part of the information regarding the ACS meeting on the editor's page: "If you are one of those lucky chemists going to San Diego, be sure to... see on of the performances of the world premiere of "Oxygen"... If you're not coming,... you might want to read the play, which is being published by Wiley-VCH." (Chemical and Engineering News, March 5, 2001)
"...the mere existence of the play is to be applauded, and the authors congratulated." (Education in Chemistry, November 2001)
"The play works very well." (The Lancet, 17 November 2001)
"Oxygen is an important stage in the move towards a more inclusive form of education and plays testimony to the power of theatre to open up the possibility of an interdisciplinary way of viewing the world." (Irish Times, 23 November 2001)
As the play's cover notes declare, 'the ethical issues around priority and discovery at the heart of this play are as timely today as they were in 1777'...Harold Varmus, Nobel Prize in Medicine, comments ‘With wit, scholarship, and stage craftsmanship, Oxygen shows us how much scientists have learned about the world and how little they have changed.'" (Advanced Materials & Processes, July 2001)
"The book of the play is stylishly produced.... If you have not seen the play, I thoroughly commend the book to you." (Interdisciplinary Science Review, Vol.27, No.1, 2002)
"...We give Oxygen, an enjoyable, engrossing, and above all provocative and thought-provoking play and enthusiastic two thumbs up."(The Chemical Educator, Vol.8, No.2, 2003)
Oxygen
Oxygen,Carl Djerassi,Roald Hoffmann,Wiley-VCH,3527304134,1733-1804,1743-1794,18th century,American,Chemistry,Chemists,Drama,Earth Sciences - General,General,History,Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent,,Nobel Prizes,Plays,Plays / Drama,Priestley, Joseph,,Science,Science (Specific Aspects),Drama texts, plays,Geology & the lithosphere,Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent,Priestley, Joseph,Scheele, Carl Wilhelm,Science / Earth Sciences
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