Here’s an inspiring story that perfectly illustrates how books can and do make a real difference to our lives, yep even children’s books...
One of New Zealand's greatest scientists, Alan MacDiarmid, died last week aged 79. Alan MacDiarmid was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000, along with Alan Heeger and Hideki Shirakawa, for discovering a way to make plastics conduct.
When asked how he came to be interested in chemistry, Alan always mentioned a book he had read as a boy - "The boy chemist" by A. Frederick Collins. Boston : Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, c1924. He told how, as a boy, he had spotted the book on the New Books shelves at the Lower Hutt Library. He enjoyed it so much he kept renewing it for almost a year, so that he could complete most of the experiments.
The Friends of the Dorothy Neal White Collection housed in the National Library purchased and donated a copy of the book to the Dorothy Neal White Collection. They then reunited him with the book (for the first time since childhood) in early 2002 and he confessed, with a charming smile, that his favourite experiment had been making invisible ink from lemon juice. He was also very keen on making fireworks.
The book can also be read online on the Royal Society of New Zealand's web site.
One of New Zealand's greatest scientists, Alan MacDiarmid, died last week aged 79. Alan MacDiarmid was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000, along with Alan Heeger and Hideki Shirakawa, for discovering a way to make plastics conduct.
When asked how he came to be interested in chemistry, Alan always mentioned a book he had read as a boy - "The boy chemist" by A. Frederick Collins. Boston : Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, c1924. He told how, as a boy, he had spotted the book on the New Books shelves at the Lower Hutt Library. He enjoyed it so much he kept renewing it for almost a year, so that he could complete most of the experiments.
The Friends of the Dorothy Neal White Collection housed in the National Library purchased and donated a copy of the book to the Dorothy Neal White Collection. They then reunited him with the book (for the first time since childhood) in early 2002 and he confessed, with a charming smile, that his favourite experiment had been making invisible ink from lemon juice. He was also very keen on making fireworks.
The book can also be read online on the Royal Society of New Zealand's web site.
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