Ebook: Architecture of Molecules

Roger Hayward (1899-1979) was an architect, artist, scientific illustrator, and inventor. Today, he is probably best remembered for the pastel drawings he created for The Architecture of Molecules, a book coauthored by Linus Pauling and Hayward, published in 1964. Hayward drew 57 beautiful plates and Pauling wrote easy-to-understand texts accompanying each plates. The book introduced various topics in chemistry to the general public, including atomic structure, structure of small molecules, crystal structure, and protein structure. It was one of the first books in which art and science are perfectly blended together. Nature magazine called it “a fascinating work of art”.

What made the book so special was the use of pastel as drawing media. Most molecules in the book are foreign to the general public. The pastel rendering of these molecules, however, brought a sense of familiarity to readers. Hayward also paid a lot of attention to the colors of the molecules. Although the color palette are based on the one used by scientists, Hayward made some subtle changes so that the colors are soft and pleasant. The pastel rendering and soft colors made the molecules look like something we saw in dreams.

In these beautiful plates, Hayward also displayed his extraordinary skills for visualize complicated 3D structures such as crystals. We have to remember that these drawings were done long before the availability of computer graphics.