Pierre Avenas, graduated from Polytechnique and Mines-ParisTech, former director for R&D in chemical industry, published books and articles around natural sciences and etymology, in particular, with the collaboration of Minh-Thu Dinh-Audouin, in the journal of Société Chimique de France, where she is scientific journalist.

Translation of this book from French was performed with the collaboration of Alan Rodney, consultant for education and publishing in technology.