Read more
The development of chemistry, like that of the other fields of science and technology, has depended greatly upon the availability of instruments. Accordingly, the study of the history of instrumentation is a major area in any survey of the progress in this science. Recognizing this fact, the Division of the History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society organized and held a very successful symposium on the history of chemical instrumentation during the Washington, D.C. National Meeting in 1979. Re~arks, both formal and informal, made during this symposium stressed points that soon become obvious to anyone who looks at the ancestry of present-day instruments . In some cases, the total history is measured in years, rather than in centuries . Chemical instrumentation, by no means confined to the laboratory, is vital in industry. There is a natural tendency to discard an item of any kind when a newer version is acquired. Often, "to discard" means "to scrap". If the item scrapped is an instrument that is unique - sometimes the last of its kind - we have a permanent artefactual gap in the history of science.
List of contents
The Impact of Instrumentation on Analytical Chemistry.- Rise and Fall of Specifications as Indicators of Instrument Performance.- The Origins of Commercial Infrared Spectrometers.- The Reflective Goniometer and Its Impact on Chemical Theory.- D.B. Brace's Measurement of Double Refraction Due to Ether Drift.- Developments in 18th Century Optics and Early Instrumentation.- The History of Optical Emission Techniques for the Industrial User.- My Rememberance of Gas Chromatography.- A Personal History of the Conception and Early Development of Ion Chromatography.- The Next Step in Laboratory Automation - Robotics.- The Development of Blowpipe Analysis.- The Practical Aspects of Collecting, Preserving, and Exhibiting Analytical Balances.- Renovation and Repair of Scientific Instruments.- Kemp & Co., Laboratory Suppliers.- Mechanical Control of Gaslight: An Account of Clockwork Mechanisms Used for Operating Gaslights.- The Development of Scientific Instruments Relating to Negretti & Zambra, Instrument Makers, England, 1850-1985.- The Use of New Materials in the Manufacture of Scientific Instruments, C.1880-C.1920.- Historic Instruments: Survival or Disappearance?.- Name Index.
Report
`...the authors stress the importance of thinking and inquiring before scrapping instruments. In keeping with the word `preservation' in the title of the book, they call for the cooperation of scientists and technologists to minimize or avoid losses of instrumental artefacts such as have occurred in the past. Replete with tables, figures, pictures and diagrams of original apparatus, and name and subject indexes, this well-balanced collection of informative, scholarly, and readable accounts should appeal to persons interested in scientific instruments and their history.' Journal of Chemical Education
`The book that he [Stock] and Mary Virginia Orna have edited will be regarded as a significant, ...step toward the understanding of the role of chemical instrumentation in science. It is long overdue.' ISIS, 78:3 (1987)
