Chemistry and literature, viewed by most people as widely different subjects, come together in the works of Primo Levi, an Italian Jew who was both a professional chemist and a professional writer. Levi said that he wanted to fill the gap between the imaginative world of literature and the analytical world of science. Believing such a gap absurd, he was never daunted by the purported incompatibility between the two fields of knowledge. Levi's literary work is also marked by his experience in Auschwitz's concentration camp, where he was interned from February 1944 to January 1945. Through his characteristically clear and precise prose, he dealt with political and social issues as a survivor of the Nazi regime.

Levi was born in Turin in an elegant apartment building at 75 Corso Re Umberto. He lived there all his life, and in the same house he died tragically in 1987. His ancestors were Jews of...