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| Brown Bag Lecture: Pierre Teissier, "The Fluoride Glass Case (1970–2000), or How a Chemical Dwarf Nearly Turned the Giant of Telecom Upside Down"
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| Date: |
4 November 2008 |
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| Time: |
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. |
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| Location: |
6th Floor Conference Room
Chemical Heritage Foundation
315 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
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| Free and open to the public.
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| Description:
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In the early 1970s, in a humble laboratory in the French province of Brittany, a Ph.D. student of mineral chemistry synthesized by chance a new glass composed of fluorine. Even if it was the first mention of a fluoride glass, it was hardly noticed by the academic community. As a matter of fact the chemical compound could have remained unknown, if not for some researchers from Bell Labs at Murray Hill who exhumed it two years later to point out its potential use as optical fiber to replace silica. Within a few months a shock wave passed through the telecom industry and gave rise to long-term, international efforts of R&D.
This case of serendipity will give the opportunity to describe the different scientific cultures involved—of solid-state chemistry in Europe and of materials sciences and engineering in America—as well as to analyze the structures and dynamics of a hybrid, occidental community in which academic, industrial, and political worlds were closely linked around epistemic, commercial, and strategic stakes.
After scientific studies in physics and chemistry, Pierre Teissier turned toward history of science and technology in 2003. His Ph.D. dissertation (2004–2007) recounts the emergence of solid-state chemistry in France after World War II. His work focuses on recent science through the dynamics of scientific communities, the relationships between science and society, and the instrumentation. |
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