Primo Levi and the other periodic table
Author and chemist Primo Levi was born 100 years ago this July. Philip Ball looks at his chemical and literary legacy – including his books The Periodic Table and If This Is a Man
Chemistry is so often overlooked in science popularisation that it’s easy to forget it was once the science of choice for poets – Goethe, Novalis, Shelley and Coleridge all took a close interest in it. But chemistry has its own poet laureate, whose most famous work frequently tops polls of the best book on science ever written. The Italian writer Primo Levi, born 100 years ago this July, spent most of his professional life as a chemist, and he only write The Periodic Table after he retired.