Ben Franklin, Langmuir, and other klutzes of monolayer science

COLL 421

Jacob Israelachvili, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Mae West, on being asked "isn't beauty skin deep?" replied "that's deep enough". This conceptual breakthrough ushered in the age of modern surface science. The history of monolayer science will be uncritically assessed in the light of the minor advances and major blunders by those who backed unwittingly into genius and transformed the field from one of utter chaos to simple confusion. The talk will be aimed at non-specialists and venture capitalists.