Abstract

In these prolegomena to a chemical aesthetics, eleven separate theses are asserted: (1) the natural is more beautiful; (2) the artificial is more beautiful; (3) the invisible is yet more beautiful than the visible; (4) the need for visualization is unavoidable; the beauty of chemistry stems from (5) an inner logic and (6) its unpredictability; (7) any change is handsome on account of its invariant elements; (8) the beauty in any change is the fleeting instant; the beauty of chemistry is that it is (9) a science of the complex and (10) a science of the simple; (11) a new contemporary art has been born