In order to have an everlasting foundation of chemistry, students, teachers and competitors are supposed to treasure the fundamentals of the subject in their knowledge bank for which they need books that they can treasure in their personal libraries. This book is the outcome of experiences of the author of teaching and examining students in chemistry for 30 years at Post Graduation level. The main aim of the author has been to educate students and teachers alike in the basic principles of chemistry by presenting the material in a clear and easy to understand manner. In his endeavor to help the teachers, researchers and competitors, the author has intended to provide greater clarity and present things differently than usual chemistry textbooks generally do. In fact this basic chemistry course is a survey course in chemistry which covers a little bit of every aspect of the subject with emphasis on historical back grounds, common terminology and real life applications of chemistry. The author has tried hard to give students some chemical and general scientific literacy rather than training them to be chemists. The real beauty of the book is the fact that besides fundamental-based topics, auxiliary topics have also been included so that besides understanding the underlying principles and vocabulary, learners become posted with the events and the personalities too who cared for the cause of society even on expense of their lives.

Dr. Badruddin Khan was Born at Gorsara in Ghazipur District of Uttar Pradesh, Dr. Badruddin Khan received his primary& secondary education at his native place. After passing intermediate (Class XII) from U.P. Board, Allahabad in 1969, he joined A.M.U. Aligarh from where he obtained his B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc., M.Phil and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry.Dr. Khan joined the University of Kashmir in 1982 as a lecturer and is today, the senior most faculty in the Department of Chemistry which he also headed during 199497& 2003. Except for two short spells at the University of Jimmah, Ethiopia as an Associate Professor and Principal of S.G.B. Podar College, Nawalgarh, Rajasthan, he has been in his parent institution with utmost dedication and sincerity. During last 29 years of his service Dr. Khan has contributed over 260 online articles, supervised 12 M.Phil and Ph.D. students and has published many research papers in journals of national and international repute.