Primo Levi Nickel Chapter Summary

Primo Levi’s first job was at an asbestos mine in Turin, Italy in 1941. Levi was born Jewish and the degree he received on graduating his full time chemistry course from the University of Turin had written on it ‘Primo Levi, of the Jewish race.’ At a time when laws were being created that were specifically aimed at removing the writes of the Jewish race, it meant that finding a job was near impossible. Levi was offered his first job secretly under a new name with new papers. The “Quantitative analysis of rock samples” was Levi’s beginnings outside of university. Levi’s life is formed around the opportunities he gets to further his career. In the chapter of his book The Periodic Table, Nickel, Levi describes his first career path intermingled

The mine produces large quantities of asbestos which is now known as quite a harmful chemical. At the time thought it was a very useful building material due to its attractive properties: “sound absorption, average tensile strength, its resistance to fire, heat, electrical and chemical damage, and affordability.” As well as this the mine produced iron and nickel, the chapters name sake. The start of World War II meant another industrial boom as opposing sides raced each other for the newest and best weaponry. Weaponry meant steel and steel meant nickel. The mine however only produced 0.2 percent nickel and that wasn’t enough to warrant extracting it. Levi’s problem to solve was whether the “raw material could be enriched.” He tried many different methods, “by magnetic separation, by floatation, by levigation, by sifting, with heavy liquids, with the shaking plate.” The only process however, that was mildly successful was by heating the material. Levi talks about the way the chemicals react and the effect that had on him as a

The main nickel mines were located in New Caledonia and Canada, neither supplying Germany. Nickel is very important for the war effort and Italy at the time was allied with Germany and Hitler and consequently whatever the mine produces is used for the benefit of Germany. Levi, a Jew hiding his heritage because of Nazi Germany is key in the ability to gain nickel from the asbestos mine. He however is unaffected by the destination of the product he is trying to enrich saying, “I was not thinking that… the nickel produced would have entirely ended up in Fascist Italy’s and Hitler Germany’s armor.” This shows how dedicated Levi was to his work as a chemist outside the boundaries placed on him from his religion and circumstances. The idea that he could make an advancement in the refining process of nickel that had not been made before, was enough for him to discount the benefactors of such an advancement at that time. This reflects Levi’s life as he used chemistry as a way to survive Auschwitz and a way to keep him and his family going after the devastation of the concentration