The History of Chemistry

184: Alles ist Chemie (Conclusion)

I conclude this series, touching on why I ran this podcast. I give eleven overarching goals for the podcast. I also go far back into my own past, and an event which event

183: New World Coming

I give a brief history of finding planets around other stars, including discovery by gravitational wobbling, dimming as the planet crosses in front of its star, and even

182: It's Life, Jim, But Not As We Know It

We take an imaginary trip around our Solar System to hear the history of chemical attempts to find life, starting in the late 1950s. Among our stops on the tour include V

181: A Work in Progress

In which we bring research into molecular machines up to date. We discuss fuels, specifically what chemists think are the best kinds of fuels to power these little molecu

180: Farm to Market

Instead of just digging in the ground to extract minerals, over the past half-century scientists have begun to explore agriculture of hyperaccumulating plants to pull ele

179: This Episode is Meta

The History of Chemistry is itself an academic discipline, and in this episode we explore the history of chemical history. We start with chemist Thomas Thomson, and work

178: Honors and Awards

In which we explore the various honors and awards available to chemists, starting in high school with the International Chemistry Olympiad, founded during the Cold War; c

177: Greek Salad

In this episode we run through the Greek alphabet and see the history behind each symbol as used in chemistry, from alpha for alpha particles to omega as in omega-fatty a

176: Inside Information

While outdoor solar cells make big news, there is a quiet revolution also for solar cells that make do with far less illumination, indoor lighting. We discuss requirement

175: It's All Fun and Games Until...

Chemistry can be fun, too, so we explore some of historical satirical art about chemistry, humor based on nonsensical molecular structures, actual compounds with funny ch

174: Just Add Water

Water, the most important chemical for us, deserves its own episode describing the history of how chemists understand it. We start with pre-Enlightenment views of water a

173: Midnight Blue

We start with a 1927 patent awarded to George Washington Carver, an agricultural chemist, for a locally-sourced Prussian blue. We learn a bit about Carver's life, ed

172: A Life of Its Own

In which we discuss the history of scientists attempting to determine a half-life of a specific radioactive isotope of samarium, and why that determination is so importan

171: Talk Dirty to Me

This is a brief history of how chemists understand the way liquids wet things. The first glimpse was by Francis Hauksbee in the early 1700s, and how water rises in narrow

170: A Clean Break

In which we talk about the history of fractals and how they relate to chemistry. There is a brief overview of what a fractal is and how it developed in mathematics. Then

169: A Bone to Pick

It's an ancient story, but fossils have been with us since time immemorial. In this episode, we hear about the history of chemists and their interpretation of fossil

168: Chill Out

Refrigeration always has been closely intertwined with chemistry. In this episode we explore the history of refrigerants, from the first hints of artificial cooling in th

167: A Sound Idea

Magnetic tape was an integral part of the new, growing recording industry. Herein we talk about the chemical history of magnetic recording, from the first idea in 1888, o

166: The Dagwood

Here we talk about supersized sandwich compounds and their history, beginning with ferrocene in the 1950s. We go from single-decker to double-, triple, and quadruple-deck

165: Building Blocks

Herein we examine the cubical hydrocarbon, cubane, and its role in chemical history. We talk of difficulties in synthesis, possible uses as an explosive, its use as an is