Fall 2009, Vol. 27, No. 3
From ancient underground oceans to spies (and their invisible ink) and on to 17th-century female pharmacists, chemistry goes everywhere.
A Colorful Life
Color by numbers—no problem, thanks to Albert H. Munsell, who pioneered methods for color comparison.
Bad Air
Leo B. Slater, War and Disease: Biomedical Research on Malaria in the 20th Century. Reviewed by David Caruso.
Pennsylvania's Black Gold
The 150th anniversary of Colonel Edwin Drake’s accidental discovery of oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania.
Salt’s Fat Chance
Meet sodium chloride, the latest nutritional villain. But are the alternatives scarier than the substance it’s replacing? A brief history about a “terrifying” food.
Studying the Scientists
Steven Shapin, The Scientific Life: A Moral History of a Late Modern Vocation. Reviewed by Pei Koay.
Thriving from an Ancient Ocean
Dow Chemical Company began when the innovative mind of Herbert Dow met the rich quantities of magnesium, chlorine, calcium, and bromine stored deep below the soils of Midland, Michigan. Photographs of the early chemical plant in the late 19th century document the pioneering of Dow’s company and the beginning of chlorine bleach.
Trade Secret
Nobel Prize winner Alan MacDiarmid reveals a creative way scientists fund their research.
Women's Business
During the 17th-century many women were skilled in making medicinal home remedies, but only a few women ran their own apothecaries and competed with male physicians for the right to make and prescribe medicines.