The Gases of the Atmosphere: The History of Their Discovery

"The Gases of the Atmosphere: The History of Their Discovery" by William Ramsay is a historical account that explores how scientists gradually unraveled the mysteries of the gases in our atmosphere. The book journeys through time, spotlighting the key scientists and their groundbreaking experiments that led to the identification of different atmospheric gases. It highlights that people had wrong ideas about air and burning for a very long time, and the book shows how these misunderstandings got in the way of discovering new gases. It particularly focuses on the work of early pioneers like Robert Boyle and John Mayow, whose early experiments laid the groundwork for future discoveries. Ramsay's focus is on the gradual change from guessing about gases to actually using experiments to figure them out.