The non-neutrality of chemistry seen from history

Abstract

In this book, the development of chemical practices, both academic and industrial, is traversed throughout much of the 20th century. Going through the brutal irruption in the Spanish public life of F. Franco, leader of the coup d’etat against the Spanish Republic that gave rise to the Civil War (1936-39) and later to an iron military dictatorship of almost forty years long. In this period, Spanish chemists, in Spain and in Latin America, maintained their practices from a political position, sometimes clear, others covert. On both sides of the Atlantic, the presence of chemistry professionals was fundamental and exemplifies what the author calls the moral ambiguity of chemistry