Carbon: One Atom's Odyssey

An illustrated history of a single atom of carbon, tracing its many manifestations from the Big Bang to the present.

Carbon: One Atom's Odyssey is an illustrated adaptation of 'Carbon,' a short story from Italian chemist, writer, and Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi. It traces the life story and many molecular manifestations of a single atom of this life-essential element.

You'll follow one atom from its spectacular birth 14 billion years ago through its harrowing journey on planet earth where it has become a basic building block of nearly 10 million known compounds in living things. Along the way, you'll learn that it is breathed in by the Peregrine Falcon; it is dissolved in the ocean before making its way back into the atmosphere; it is found in your pencil as well as in your liver; it helps trees grow strong and tall; and it even lets a moth's eye make sense of light.