Summary

Chapter 14: This chapter is about the connection between science and art. Kean focuses on Goethe, who is now remembered as a German writer. Goethe also worked in science, though his theories would not prove scientifically sound. His significant contributions to the field proved to be in the form of patronage: he supported J. W. Dobereiner whose research focused on finding precise ways to weight elements. This work would prove foundationally important when Mendeleev and others began constructing the first periodic tables fifty years later.

Kean then writes about the roles that elements can play in art, design, and luxury items, with a focus on the role of artificial obsolescence in our society. As a case study, Kean looks at a luxury pen called the Parker 51 with a patented ruthenium tip that exemplified the role of elements in luxury design that blends...