Periodic Tabloid

Most of us think we are free of bias. We’re pretty convinced we reach conclusions, make decisions, rank priorities, and do related acts of judgment based on evidence, not bias or prejudice.

As fans of CHF no doubt know, alchemy was once the name given to “the science of matter;” only around the latter half of the sixteenth century did the term chemistry begin to appear in Western sources. The theories behind this shift in use, and the source of the root word – chem – nicely encapsulates the history of chemistry itself, and the questions that remain about its origins.

Dr. Nancy Chang is the first woman to be inducted in the Biotechnology Hall of Fame. Like many previous awardees, her life has been one of overcoming obstacles, rising above circumstances, being inspired, and finally, being an inspiration to others.

Yesterday Nancy Chang became the first woman to win the Biotechnology Heritage Award. But did you know that the world’s first chemist may have been a woman?

In the interest of history, chemist William McMillan wrote two volumes reflecting on his work in the Manhattan Project. But as of the date of his oral history—1999—those documents were still classified.

A new paper makes a contribution to identifying a common unifying abnormality in cancer using mass spectrometry.

To celebrate ballooning history this summer, CHF’s collections team is highlighting the ballooning postcards held by the Othmer Library of Chemical History. In this month’s Collective Voice we explore how balloons captured centuries of imagination—producing ideas more than just flights of fancy.

Detailed analysis of years of data from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal that our very own Milky Way galaxy is headed for a direct head-on collision with the Andromeda galaxy.

Why does scholarly purpose matter? Because without it, knowledge would cease to expand. If there were no original research, there would be nothing new to teach, just reworking of the same ledger of human accomplishment over and over again.

2012 is the 25^th anniversary of CHF’s Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry. To celebrate the Beckman Center’s remarkable achievements and its many accomplished fellows, we will be profiling one former fellow each month over the course of the year. This month we’d like you to belatedly meet Gabriele Ferrario (profiled in April but never posted on the blog), and David Schleifer, our pick for May.