Royal Society of Chemistry

HISTORICAL GROUP

Web pages prepared by Dr G P Moss, School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, England. E-mail: g.p.moss@qmul.ac.uk

Chairman: Prof J Nicholson, 52 Buckingham Road, Hampton Middx TW12 3JG, England. E-mail: jwnicholson01@gmail.com

Secretary: Dr P J T Morris, 5 Helford Way, Upminster, Essex RM14 1RJ, England. E-mail: doctor@peterjtmorris.plus.com

Treasurer: Stanley Langer

Membership: Prof W P Griffith, Department of Chemistry, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AZ, England, E-mail: w.griffith@ic.ac.uk]

Newsletter Editor: Dr Anna Simmons, Epsom Lodge, La Grande Route de St Jean, St John, Jersey, JE3 4FL a.simmons@ucl.ac.uk

The Historical Group exists to encourage an interest in the history of chemistry and chemical industry among members of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and others. Membership is open to non-members of the RSC and embraces a wide range from those whose interest in the history of chemistry is a hobby to teachers of chemistry at all levels and professional historians.

The Group holds twice yearly meetings when academic papers are read and discussed. Summaries of papers read at these meetings are included in the Historical Group Newsletter along with reviews of recent books in the subject and news of other meetings and forthcoming events. The Newsletter is published twice yearly. Contributions of around 2,500 words on topics of current interest in the history of chemistry are invited for inclusion at the discretion of the Editor. The Editor is very happy to discuss possible contributions prior to submission. The contents of the last issue, Summer 2023, are given below with a link to the PDF (0.9 MB).


Next meeting on WEDNESDAY 13 MARCH 2024

The next meeting will be on "The Development of the Chemist’s Notebook" at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BA [Click here for a map of the location of Burlington House and Royal Society of Chemistry.

For further information and booking details please visit:


or email Peter Morris Historical Group Secretary at
doctor@peterjtmorris.plus.com

Programme

10.30 amRegistration and coffee
10.50 amWelcome
11.10 amMichael Hunter (Birkbeck, University of London) The Work diaries of Robert Boyle
11.40 amMatthew Eddy (University of Durham)What was a Scientific Notebook? Amelie Kier, Chemistry and the Power of Annotation during the 1790s
12.20 pmlunch
1.40 pmSharon Ruston (Lancaster University)Protean Poetics in Humphry Davy’s Notebooks
2.20 pmFrank James (University College London)How Michael Faraday’s Laboratory Notebooks Developed into a Diary
3.00 pmtea
3.30 pmKostas Gavroglu (University of Athens)Notebooks as Laboratories: The case of Linus Pauling
4.10 pmSamantha Pearman-Kanza (University of Southampton)Electronic Lab Notebooks and Beyond
4.50 pmClosing remarks
5.00 pmEnd of meeting


How to join the Historical Group:

If you are a member of the RSC you should contact the Membership Department (membership@rsc.org or ring 01223 432141) quoting your name and membership number. If you have any problems or queries, please contact the RSCHG Membership Secretary, Prof Bill Griffith, 48 Milton Road, London SW14 8JR; w.griffith@ic.ac.uk. All members of the Group can download the Newsletter as a PDF on www.rsc.org/historical or https://rschg.qmul.ac.uk/; no password is needed.

Other Useful Web pages

The Group maintains contact with colleagues in the Division of the History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences.

The Library & Information Centre, Historical Chemistry Information Service.

The Chemical Heritage Foundation.

ACS Historical Division.

The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry.

Details of Nobel Prize winners; portraits; and other details.

List of Nobel Prize winners for Chemistry.

Chemical Heritage Foundation.

History of Pharmacy Forum.

The History of Chemical Engineering.

The Classic Chemistry Page.

Alchemy Home Page.

Historic samples and specimens from the Chemistry Department, Imperial College, London.

History of chemistry in Heidelberg

Science & Civilisation in China Project (Needham Research Institute).

There is a History of Chemistry Mail List or email chem-hist-request@mailman.uni-regensburg.de

To send messages email chem-hist@mailman.uni-regensburg.de


Historical Group Newsletter and Summary of Papers
and Occasional Papers

Short articles on the history of chemistry for the Newsletter are welcome and should be sent to the editor, Dr Anna Simmons, Epsom Lodge, La Grande Route de St Jean, St John, Jersey, JE3 4FL a.simmons@ucl.ac.uk. Please consult the Instructions for Authors.

No 85. Winter 2024 Newsletter

For a PDF copy of the Newsletter (0.9 MB) click here

Contents

From the Editor (Anna Simmons)

ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY HISTORICAL GROUP NEWS
  Letter from the Chair (John Nicholson)
  Secretary’s Report for 2023 (Peter Morris)

ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY HISTORICAL MEETINGS AND ONLINE LECTURES
  The Development of the Chemist’s Notebook
  Chemistry, History and Medicine
  Online Lectures

INTRODUCING OUR NEW HISTORICAL GROUP COMMITTEE MEMBERS

NEWS FROM THE RSC LIBRARY

SHORT ESSAYS
  Two Books that Markedly Influenced My Chemical Career (Henry Rzepa)
  The Lives and Careers of the Sons of W. H. Perkin (John Nicholson)
  Conquering the Captain of Death - Chemical Interventions Against Tuberculosis (Alan Dronsfield, Pete Ellis and (the late) Trevor Brown)

BOOK REVIEWS
  Catherine M. Jackson, Molecular World: Making Modern Chemistry, 2023 (Peter Morris)

RSCHG MEETING REPORTS
  British X-Ray Crystallographers

REPORTS OF RSCHG WEBINARS
RSC YouTube Channel

EVENTS, EXHIBITIONS AND OUTREACH
  The Summer of Science Festival at Nantwich Museum (Helen Cooke)

CELEBRATIONS AT BIRMINGHAM CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
  A Tribute to Evelyn Hickmans (Anne Green)

MEMBERS’ PUBLICATIONS

PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST

SOCIETY NEWS
  Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

FUTURE WEBINARS, MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES


Contents of Newsletters (1996-2024)

PDFs of Newsletters (2010-2024)

PDFs of Occasional Papers 6-10

Biographies of Chemists including Confusing Names 1-3 from Newsletters 1998-9


Last update 19 January 2024

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