Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsThe Politics of Chemistry: Science and Power in Twentieth-Century Spain. By Agustí Nieto-Galan. Science in History. Edited by Simon J. Shaffer and James A. Secord. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. xxvi+284. $99.99 (cloth); $80.00 (Adobe eBook Reader).Peter J. T. MorrisPeter J. T. MorrisScience Museum, London Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmailPrint SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 95, Number 1March 2023 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/723357 Views: 7Total views on this site For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Hannah Gay and William P. Griffith, The Chemistry Department at Imperial College: A History, 1845–2000. London: World Scientific Publishing, 2017. Pp. xi + 569 + illus. ISBN 978-1-78326-973-0. £56.00 (hardcover). - Volume 51 Issue 2

London's centrality in science can be attributed to a number of factors, not least of which is that she is the seat of government, site of the headquarters of many learned societies, center of a seafaring empire for several centuries, a flourishing commercial center, and the nexus or near-nexus of the major institutions of higher education in the country. This chapter is an introduction to every scientific facet of this fascinating city in the form of a gargantuan walking tour.

Reviewed by: Wiederaufbau: Das Deutsches Museum, 1945–1970 Peter J. T. Morris (bio) Wiederaufbau: Das Deutsches Museum, 1945–1970. By Otto Mayr. Munich: Deutsches Museum, 2003. Pp. 216. Due to its gradual Nazification on one hand and the impact of air raids in July and December 1944 on the other, the Deutsches Museum—the science and industry museum on the Isar River in Munich—was both physically and morally damaged by the end of the Third Reich. Because it fell within the American zone, the discontinuity with the past was less than it otherwise would have been—only thirty members of staff were forced to leave out of a surviving workforce of 150. Had it been in the Soviet zone, for example, the institution would have been completely transformed. Nevertheless, the leadership faced a massive task to bring the museum back to its former glory. This volume by former museum director Otto Mayr is a relatively short account of the twenty-five years up to 1970 when the reconstruction was finally completed. One major problem was the kind of museum that had to be rebuilt in the new Federal Republic of Germany. The physical reconstruction was daunting enough, but it was simple compared to the development of a new role in the politics and culture of postwar Germany. The original conception of the museum was very much the personal creation of industrialist Oskar von Miller. He founded the museum in 1903 at the height of the Wilhelmine empire and he enjoyed close links with the Bavarian royal family, dethroned in 1918. Furthermore, unlike the Science Museum in London or the Smithsonian in Washington, the Deutsches Museum was not a national body, despite its name. It was a Bavarian institution, controlled by the Bavarian Ministry of Culture. Thus it was a cultural legacy of empire, only without the backing of an imperial state. Mayr’s story of the museum’s reconstruction in both its physical and moral aspects shows how a modern German institution was created out of the Nazi wreckage of a Wilhelmine ideal. This is very much a high-level account, divided chronologically by the terms of office of the different directors. Hence it is largely concerned with the management of the museum, its internal politics, and the long-term planning of exhibitions. It is the institutional history of an organization [End Page 939] rather than a sociological account of a community. There is no comparison with museums elsewhere, perhaps on the assumption that the experience of the Deutsches Museum was unique. This is unfortunate, as there are parallels to be drawn with the much-delayed building of the Centre Block at the Science Museum or with the creation of the Museum of History and Technology in Washington. And surely the management of the Deutsches Museum must have looked over their shoulders at developments at their rivals as they sought to rebuild their museum. Although there is material about the permanent galleries and exhibitions in the context of the overall reconstruction, this book lacks the sustained treatment of exhibitions one finds in the 2010 volume edited by Elisabeth Vaupel and Stefan Wolff on the Deutsches Museum in the Third Reich. Nor is there much on the role played in the post-war museum by leading scientists or large German companies. However there is good coverage of the museum’s relations with its neighboring universities, the University of Munich and the Technische Hochschule. But these criticisms should not be allowed to obscure that this is an excellent book. Otto Mayr has both the personal experience of leading the museum and a unique empathy with his predecessors, which allow him to give an insightful account of the rebirth of a world-class institution. This book will be of great value to historians of museums, students of museology, and scholars working on the postwar reconstruction of West German institutions. Peter J. T. Morris Peter J. T. Morris is Keeper of Research Projects at the Science Museum, London. Copyright © 2012 The Society for the History of Technology

List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Foreword S.Schaffer Introduction P.Morris Infected by the Bacillus of Science: The Explosion of South Kensington R.Bud The First Years: The Science Museum at War and Peace T.Scheinfeldt The Science Museum and the Second World War T.Parsons III Ambition and Anxiety: The Science Museum, 1950s to 1983 S.Anthony Parallax Error? A Participant's Account of the Science Museum, c.1980-c.2000 T.Boon Waves of Change: How The Science Museum's Library Rose, Fell and Rose Again N.Wyatt 'A Worthy and Suitable House' Science Museum Buildings and the Temporality of Space D.Rooney Exhibiting Science: Changing Conceptions of Science Museum Display A.Nahum Beyond the Children's Gallery: The Influence of Children on the Development of the Science Museum A.Bunney 'An Effective Organ of Public Enlightenment': The Role of Temporary Exhibitions in the Science Museum P.Morris Collecting for the Science Museum: Constructing the Collections, the Culture and the Institution R.Bud Lifting the Stone: Housing the Collections J.Liffen The International Context and the Context of Internationalism T.Scheinfeldt Afterword: The Museum of the Future C.Rapley Appendix1: List of Temporary Exhibitions from 1912 to 1983 Appendix2: List of Senior Staff from 1893 to 2000 Appendix3: Visitor Figures for the Science Museum from 1909 to 2008

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsAndrew Ede. The Rise and Decline of Colloid Science in North America, 1900–1935: The Neglected Dimension. (Science, Technology, and Culture, 1700–1945.) xi + 208 pp., figs., table, apps., bibl., index. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2007. $99.95 (cloth).Peter J. T. MorrisPeter J. T. Morris Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Isis Volume 100, Number 1March 2009 Publication of the History of Science Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/599672 Views: 13Total views on this site © 2009 by The History of Science Society. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The analysis of different historic mauve samples--mauve salts and dyed textiles--was undertaken to establish the exact nature of the iconic dye produced by W. H. Perkin in the nineteenth century. Fourteen samples from important museum collections were analyzed, and it was determined that, in contrast to the general wisdom that mauveine consists of C(26) and C(27) structures, Perkin's mauveine is a complex mixture of at least thirteen methyl derivatives (C(24) to C(28)) with a 7-amino-5-phenyl-3-(phenylamino)phenazin-5-ium core. A fingerprint was established in which mauveines A or B were dominant, and in which mauveines B2 and C(25) were found to be important tracers to probe the original synthesis. Counterion analysis showed that all the mauve salts should be dated after 1862. Perkin's original recipe could be identified in three textile samples, and in these cases, mauveines A and C(25) were found to be the major chromophores. These are now shown to be the samples containing the "original mauve".

This article discusses the work of James E. Lovelock that eventually led to the invention of the electron-capture detector, which had a vital role in environmental protection and control.

The article examines books in the last fifty years that made notable contribution in the historiog. of the chem. industry.

For many years the Science Museum has displayed Perkin's ‘original mauve dye’. The true historical significance of this specimen is considered in the context of the development of mauveine chemistry in the early 1860s and by comparison with similar specimens of the colorant in other museums. Because it is a crystalline sample of mauveine acetate, it cannot be earlier than 1862. This is also true of the other specimens, including one example with an excellent provenance but which is now missing. Finally, its approximate dating having been established, the place of this ‘original mauve dye’ in the ranks of mauve relics is reconsidered.

The status of vitamin and carotenoid research in the first two decades of the 20 th Century is outlined and the activities of Katharine Hope Coward in applying chromatography are discussed. Coward can be considered as the fifth person utilizing chromatography in the dormant period between Tswett’s fundamental work, in 1906–1911, and the resurrection of the technique in the early 1930s.

FRED AFTALION, A History of the International Chemical Industry: From the ‘Early Days’ to 2000. Second revised edition. Translated by Otto Theodor Benfey. Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Press, 2001. Pp. xxii+442. ISBN 0-941901-29-7. $24.95 (paperback). - Volume 36 Issue 2

This chapter contains sections titled: Biotechnology and the Myth of a Recent “Biotech Revolution”[1] Polymer Science At the Boundaries A Composite Field of Research Conclusion References and Notes