Italy - Primo Levi

Hydrogen

Published

March 2, 2022

Modified

May 5, 2026

Italy: Primo Levi

Primo Levi

Primo Levi

Levi, a 23-year old chemist, was arrested in December 1943 and transported to Auschwitz in February 1944. There he remained until the camp was liberated on 27 January 1945. He arrived back home in Turin in October, unrecognisable to the concierge who had seen him only a couple of years earlier.

Story

Hydrogen from Primo Levi’s collection The Periodic Table.

Download PDF File

Unable to display PDF file. Download instead.

Themes

  • Epiphany
  • Curiosity, the Desire to Know, and Perseverance
  • Rule Breaking
  • “Other Worldliness”
  • Metaphors: Describing an idea using vocabulary from another domain
  • TRIZ, aka Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskhikh Zadatch

Additional Material

Notes and References

  1. The last story in The Periodic Table, titled Carbon is also a fantastic metaphoric journey of a single Carbon atom. Read it!! It has been described as the most accessible piece of science writing!
  2. More Holocaust Reading:
  3. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/22/primo-levi-auschwitz-if-this-is-a-man-memoir-70-years
  4. A Student Reflection on Primo Levi’s Hydrogen: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/literature/21l-325-small-wonders-staying-alive-spring-2007/assignments/periodic2.pdf
  5. Extract from “The key to the highest truths”: Primo Levi and the beauty of chemistry

Nonetheless, reading Levi’s writing over lockdown, I was reminded that he also witnessed chemistry’s most detestable side at Auschwitz, as part of the Chemical Kommando transporting magnesium chloride, and at the IG-Farben laboratory. Despite this, Levi never lost sight of the beauty of chemistry: for me, found in the sublimation of brilliant emerald-green crystals of nickelocene; in the jagged, imperfect trace of an action potential on the electromyograph; in the faint rainbow of lines emitted by potassium under a sodium discharge lamp. If Levi were to observe us in these practical classes, complete with our rash deductions, amateurish mistakes and shattered glassware, I like to think he would be pleased.

Song for the Story !!

Song: Flying Sorcery Artiste: Al Stewart

Alastair(“Al”) Ian Stewart (born 5 September 1945) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician who rose to prominence as part of the British folk revival in the 1960s and 1970s. He developed a unique style of combining folk-rock songs with delicately woven tales of characters and events from history.

Figure 1: Al Stewart performing “Flying Sorcery”

“Flying Sorcery” Al Stewart

With your photographs of Kitty Hawk
And the biplanes on your wall
You were always Amy Johnson
From the time that you were small.
No schoolroom kept you grounded
While your thoughts could get away
You were taking off in Tiger Moths
Your wings against the brush-strokes of the day
Are you there?
On the tarmac with the winter in your hair
By the empty hangar doors, you stop and stare
Leave the oil-drums behind you, they won’t care
Oh, are you there?

Oh, you wrapped me up in a leather coat
And you took me for a ride
We were drifting with the tail-wind
When the runway came in sight
The clouds came up to gather us
And the cockpit turned to white
When I looked, the sky was empty
I suppose you never saw the landing-lights
Are you there?
In your jacket with the grease stain and the tear
Caught up in the slipstream of the dare
The compass rose will guide you anywhere,
Oh, are you there?

The sun comes up on Icarus as the night-birds sail away
And lights the maps and diagrams
That Leonardo made
You can see Faith, Hope and Charity
As they bank above the fields
You can join the flying circus
You can touch the morning air against your wheels
Are you there?
Do you have a thought for me that you can share?
Oh I never thought you’d take me unawares
Just call me if you ever need repairs
Oh, are you there?

Writing Prompts

  1. My Genius Friend
  2. What I learnt by Breaking Rules
  3. Describing a Scientific Concept using everyday objects as metaphors.
Back to top