Using stories from science’s past to understand our world
Eleanor Roosevelt thanks a chemical engineering firm in Philadelphia for manufacturing water for the king and queen of England on their visit to the United States.
Join Distillations podcast hosts Lisa Berry Drago and Alexis Pedrick as Science History Institute staff members share their favorite objects from our museum, archival, and library collections.
A centuries-old sailor’s hack enters the ecologist’s toolkit.
In the 18th century Joseph Priestley and others developed processes for manufacturing artificially carbonated mineral water, uniting the therapeutic powers of an ancient natural restorative with the emerging science of modern chemistry.
The genius of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring lay in pulling together already existing data from many areas and synthesizing it to create the first coherent account of the effects persistent chemicals had on the environment.
Soviet geneticist Nikolai Vavilov led an ideologically perilous campaign to rid the world of famine.
The Disappearing Spoon has the story behind notorious surgeon Walter Freeman’s contempt for his father, failures with his sons, and obsession with lobotomies.
Can an upcoming White House conference muster the political will needed to address the nation’s food insecurity and obesity crises? A summit from 1969 offers clues.
