One of the points I hope to make as I build podcast episodes for The Elements Unearthed project is to show the threads that lead to modern chemistry as an empirical science. I have seen from my research here at Chemical Heritage Foundation that there are at least three major threads that all came [...]
Archive for July, 2009
Three Threads to Chemistry
Posted in Weekly Post, tagged alchemy, atalanta fugiens, birringuccio, buckminsterfullerine, bucky ball, chemistry, elixir of life, fugue, mappae clavicula, michael maier, philosophers stone, pyrotechnia, richard smalley, robert boyle, roger of helmarshausen, sceptical chymist, theophilus on July 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Water Power, Gunpowder, and Love Potions
Posted in Weekly Post, tagged basil valentine, du pont, gunpowder, hagley museum, love potion, Novatek, othmer library, overshot water wheel, pliny the elder, synthetic diamond, tracy hall, variable speed drill, water power, water turbine on July 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This last week at Chemical Heritage Foundation I have begun to photograph some of the ancient books and manuscripts that are housed here. After researching CHF’s online catalog, I identified several books to start with including Pliny the Elder’s Historia Naturalis, Basil Valentine’s Twelve Keys, and others. The research librarians of the Othmer Library then located [...]
Serendipity-Do-Dah
Posted in Weekly Post, tagged aristotle, carpenters hall, dale chihuly, empedocles, franklin court, glass blowing, national liberty museum, philadelphia, stained glass on July 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Each day as I travel to Chemical Heritage Foundation, I walk through the heart of old Philadelphia, where history is found in layers. This city is over 325 years old, whereas the towns in Utah where I come from can barely claim 150 years. Just about every building either is historic in [...]
