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Bert Hansen

More From the Author

Does Louis Pasteur Still Matter?

Distillations Article

Or will the scientist’s 200th birthday be his last hurrah?

COVID-19 Health Passports: What’s Old Is New Again

Distillations Article

To speed reopening, government and business leaders are pushing a modern version of a centuries-old idea.

The Story of Serum Therapy

Distillations Article

How a 19th-century invention could save lives today.

How Renaissance Princes Pursued Beauty in Science

Distillations Article

An exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art shows how power and science were intertwined in early modern Europe.

Smallpox and the Long Road to Eradication

Distillations Article

It’s one thing to make a scientific discovery, but making it count is another thing entirely.

Hennig Brandt and the Discovery of Phosphorus

Distillations Article

An engraving in the Science History Institute’s collections hints at the ways art and science were intertwined in the Age of Enlightenment.

Our Mutual Friend

Distillations Article

Candy stores in the 19th century sold sweets as deadly as they were delicious.

The Filter of Life

Distillations Article

A simple invention that saved lives and led to the discovery of a hidden form of life.

Science, Protector of the Common Good

Distillations Article

In the late 19th century booming cities faced a new threat—their own food.

The Artist in the Laboratory

Distillations Article

Albert Edelfelt broke the rules when he painted his friend Louis Pasteur in the scientist’s natural element.

How the Public Became Interested in Medical Science

Distillations Video

Historian Bert Hansen explains how a confluence of forces in the late 19th century paved the way for a greater appreciation for medical research.

Party Spirits

Distillations Article

What happens when a 1880s cartoonist mixes science and politics to skewer his political enemies?

Political Potions

Distillations Article

America in the 1880s might seem far from the long-past world of European alchemy, but the hoary image of the alchemist vainly trying to make gold was so familiar to the public that it could serve to mock politicians during the bustling time Mark Twain dubbed the “Gilded Age.”

Stories of the Great Chemists

Distillations Article

In the 1950s comic books took Mexico’s youth by storm. But alongside familiar superhuman avengers were other kinds of heroes: real-life chemists.

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