Science History Institute

On Indigenous Peoples Day, we honor and respect the Native Peoples of this land and their immeasurable impact on the world. To learn more about the original caretakers of our land and water, visit our #Downstream exhibition: https://sciencehistory.org/downstream

September Oral History Trailblazer

As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we recognize the contributions of scientist Mario J. Molina. Molina was born in Mexico City, Mexico and came to the United States to pursue PhD studies in Physical Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. Molina conducted research about chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and discovered that they were connected to the depletion of the ozone layer. His research on the ozone layer led to the signing of the Montreal Protocol, which was the first global attempt to limit harm to the atmosphere. Molina was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work, along with Paul J. Crutzen and F. Sherwood Rowland. Molina was the first Mexican-born scientist to be recognized with a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In this clip from Molina’s oral history interview, he discusses his work at the Mario Molina Center for Strategic Studies on Energy and the Environment in Mexico City, where he worked with the Mexican government and other Latin American countries to advocate for environmental issues. Learn more about Mario Molina’s life and impact by listening to his oral history interview here: https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/8pmnk1q This oral history interview is part of a research project, "The President's Scientists: Understanding the Role and Full Impact of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) Through Oral Histories," funded, in part, by a generous grant from the National Science Foundation and additional support provided by the Baker Institute Civic Scientist Program, The Richard Lounsbery Foundation, and Humanities Texas. The indexing and audio synchronization of this interview were completed as part of the Oral Histories of Immigration and Innovation project, made possible by a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Oral History Trailblazer: Lubert Stryer

For this month's Oral History Trailblazer, we wanted to highlight medical scientist and National Medal of Science awardee, Lubert Stryer. Lubert Stryer was born in Tientsin (now Tianjin), China. He and his family lived in Shanghai until he was about ten. Lubert’s father had come to China from Germany, his mother from Russia, in order to escape the turmoil in Europe, but was met with more hostilities. Somehow the Stryers were able to escape, and after the war, obtained visas for the United States, moving to Forest Hills, New York. While living in the States, Stryer obtained a B.S. degree from the University of Chicago, and an M.D. degree from Harvard University. Lubert is a pioneer in the field of biochemistry, and his years working on visual excitation helped us to understand how our eyes process light. He enjoyed a “magic moment” when he discovered that a single photon can lead to the activation of five-hundred molecules of transducin. His own description of his science, “light and life,” best describes Stryer himself. In this quote from Stryer's interview, he recalls the moment he received the National Medal of Science for Biological Sciences: "It really indicated to me what a great land of opportunity this is and how important it is to maintain those opportunities, both for those who are native-born and for those who come into this country, and to keep the doors of opportunity open." You can listen to Stryer's full interview or read the full transcript on our website: https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/4z1tri9#t=15406

Happy June! For this month's Oral History Trailblazer we're highlighting Carolyn R. Bertozzi. She is an American chemist whose work spans both chemistry and biology. She coined the term “bioorthogonal chemistry” in 2003 to describe chemical reactions that can occur inside living systems without interference. She’s studied glycans and how they impact diseases like cancer and viral infections like COVID-19. She has made important contributions to understanding how cells interact. She received the MacArthur “genius” award in 1999 at the age of 33, the 2007 GLBT Scientist of the Year (National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals, now Out to Innovate), the Lemelson-MIT Prize faculty award in 2010 (the first woman to do so), became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2005, the Institute of Medicine in 2011, and the National Academy of Inventors in 2013. A wife and a mom of three boys now, she still blocks aside paper writing and has made strides in her career. Check out her interview with Andrea R. Maestrejuan, as she discussed her life and career, including her intersectional experience as a woman and lesbian in STEM. #happypride "But, yes, it was tough then. And now, I think it’s better. There’re gay students around here. You know who they are, and actually, there are a few of them in my lab and there’re a few of them in other labs, too. There’re a lot more women here now than there used to be, so our student body is 35, 40 percent women. My group has always been about 50-50, and so that changes the whole climate. When you just have some women around, that really helps a lot, makes it a more professional, somehow sane environment.” (108) [link to audio where this quotation starts: https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/3xomins#t=21892] You can listen to the full interview and more on our website: www.sciencehistory.org #sciencehistory #pridemonth #womeninstem #oralhistory #molecularbiology #scie

Join us Friday, June 3, for our next First Friday event! This month’s First Friday explores the behind-the-scenes collaboration in science, and the many unsung and unseen workers who make discoveries happen. We’ll also celebrate Pride Month and diverse scientists throughout history! First Fridays at the Institute are always free and open to the public; registration is strongly encouraged. Attendees will receive a 10% discount at National Mechanics. Register here: https://www.sciencehistory.org/event/first-friday-202206

ICYMI: Check out this month's Science on Tap - Philadelphia with historian Joanna Behrman. Her talk "Ladies in the Laboratory: A Brief History of U.S. Women in Science" takes you on a fast-paced dive into the history of women in science in the United States. We start with colonial America and move through to the present day as we discuss notable women in science, why some sciences are more “masculine” or “feminine” than others, how gender has shaped the boundary between scientists and non-scientists, and what the heck home economics has to do with any of it. For more information about Science on Tap events, please visit www.sciencontapphilly.com or https://sciencehistory.org/science-on-tap

May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month! This month is dedicated commemorating the history, culture, and legacy of those belonging to Asian communities and the communities within the Pacific Islands. For this month's #OralHistoryTrailblazer, we wanted to highlight Dr. Yixian Zheng, an Asian American cell biologist who grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution. She came to the United States to complete her PhD at Ohio State University and began research on cell division at the University of California San Francisco. Today she the Director of the Department of Embryology at the Carnegie Institution for Science. Listen to this quote from Zheng on her time working on multiple projects in Bruce Albert's lab post-doc: "Actually, I went through several projects in Bruce's lab in the first two years. Like what I said, I'm just the type I never feel like you try one thing. I've always felt you need to try a bunch of things, and if one thing works, you consider yourself lucky! So when I went to Bruce's lab, I tried a bunch of projects, and none of them really worked. Or in my view, I just don't think it has a really good perspective. Even though one of the projects I tried, Tim thought it was something I should follow up. I thought, well, you know, I'm not sure what that would all amount to, so I just didn't follow that up. In the end, I decided probably the gamma tubulin purification would really both fit my initial goal of wanting to do biochemistry and also to understand gamma tubulin as a complex. So that's where I went." You can find Zheng's full interview and transcript on on our website: https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/1jfqnll#tab=ohDescription

Today on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), we remember the six million Jews who were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust. We also recall the stories of those who survived. Roald Hoffman is one of those survivors. Roald Hoffmann is a Nobel Prize winning theoretical chemist whose family survived the Holocaust dues to his Father's bravery. While studying in the United States, Hoffmann also developed his love for poetry and playwriting. Throughout the discussion, Hoffmann returns to the themes of building bridges between branches of chemistry, between chemistry and physics, between science and the humanities, and between academia and the public. In this excerpt from Roald Hoffmann's interview, he describes how unusual it was for his Polish Jewish family to have so many survivors after the war, stating, "We were the largest family group in that town to survive…" You can learn more about Hoffmann's story, including his experience living in hiding during the Holocaust, in his oral history interview here: https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/c27a8s8 . . . #YomHaShoah #HolocaustRemembranceDay #SciencHistory #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth #OurSharedHeritage

Happy National Poetry Month! This holiday is celebrated annually in April and reminds us that poets and their art are an essential part of our culture. We don't often think of scientists as poets, but these individuals show us the beauty of pursuing multiple passions. Our first Trailblazer is a man named James L. Sherley, who knew he was destined to be a scientist. Sherley, an accomplished biological engineer who graduated from both Harvard and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, also shares with us his love of poetry. You can listen to Sherley's full interview or read the full transcript on our website: https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/dohu5m5 #NationalPoetryMonth #nationalpoetrymonth2022 #sciencehistory #poetry #BiologicalEngineering

Happy National Crayon Day! To celebrate, we're showing you a BTS look at one of the objects in our Exhibit Lab: Redefining Nude. This video features Bellen's More than Peach Multicultural Crayons! Bellen Woodard (2010 -) is the founder of Bellen's More than Peach Project. Bellen began by creating kits containing a range of skin color crayons and sending them out to local school children in Loudoun County, Virginia where she lives. More Than Peach™ celebrates diversity and promotes inclusivity. Come and see Bellen's crayons in person in our gallery! https://www.sciencehistory.org/exhibitlab

Why are these stylish women posing with scientific instruments? Instrument makers in the 1960s used “lovely ladies” to sell their wares, an advertising ploy still used today. Check out our Distilled video for a closer look! bit.ly/ScienceAds

This March for Women’s History Month, we are featuring Dr. Madeleine M. Joullié as our Oral History Trailblazer of the Month. Dr. Joullié was born in Paris, France, and moved with her family to Brazil when she was young. After growing up in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, she came to the United States to study at Simmons College, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry in 1949. She continued her studies at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a Master’s degree in Chemistry in 1950 and a PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1953. During her oral history interview, Dr.Joullié describes her career as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she has led the way in research, teaching, and service. A true trailblazer, she conducted research on fingerprint reagents for the U. S. Secret Service, led early efforts to hire more women and minorities at the university, and has taught and mentored generations of students. Dr. Joullié's oral history interview is now available online and will soon be indexed as part of the “Science, War, and Exile: Oral Histories of Immigration and Innovation” project, which highlights the life experiences and contributions of scientists who immigrated to the United States in the 20th century. This project is made possible through a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Learn more about Oral Histories of Immigration and Innovation here: https://www.sciencehistory.org/oral-histories-immigration-innovation

Join us for a tour of Nylon: From Labs to Legs with exhibition curator Isabelle Marina Held, Price-Doan Postdoctoral Fellow. The show is open until Wednesday February 16, 2022 Thursday–Saturday | 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. View the full virtual tour on YouTube now: https://youtu.be/hGkZZjcRrWI

Did you know that our digital collections also include Oral History interviews? Check out our Oral History Trailblazer of the Month Gloria Long Anderson, an African-American organic chemist who was a pioneer in her field! Anderson was born and raised in Altheimer, Arkansas. Anderson was always good in school, even skipping grades, yet she had to attend segregated schools, literally just down the road from the origin of Brown v. Board of Education. Anderson attended Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical, and Normal College (AM&N) on scholarship; she was valedictorian of her class (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was her commencement speaker and stands beside her in a photo). After a year of teaching at South Carolina State College and two at Morehouse College, Anderson was accepted into the doctoral program at the University of Chicago. She studied fluorine, using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), in Leon Stock’s lab. She had no study group and little help, teaching herself first the fluorine-19 NMR and then other types. During the 1960's she was noted as being one of the only chemists to successfully run the fluorine-19 NMR. Throughout the interview Anderson discusses the politics of being a woman in a man’s world and of being black in a white world. She found her inspiration in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and has spent her professional life trying to make things better and easier for the less-advantaged. Anderson’s advice to young women considering chemistry as a career is: you must love chemistry; you must be committed; and you must prove yourself over and over. To learn more about Gloria L. Anderson or to hear more Oral History interviews, please visit: digital.sciencehistory.org

In this episode of The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean discusses the horrors of a particular genetic disease that was, literally, sweeping through London in the 1700s. After the Great Fire, London officials made chimneys mandatory in all homes and buildings. All these new chimneys meant there was a big demand for sweepers. Who did they employ to clean these narrow, soot-filled chimneys you ask? Very young boys. Check out more episodes from the Distillations podcast on our website: https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations . . . #Distillations #Distillationspodcast #ChimneySweeps #MaryPoppins #TheGreatFire #ScienceHistory

Do you know how many states the Delaware River runs through? We sure do, and since today is #DayWithoutTheDelware we'd like to show you! Our Downstream exhibit showcases an exciting model of the Delaware River Basin! Courtesy of the Delaware River Basin Commission Stop by the Science History Institute for more interesting objects from our Downstream exhibit! Visit sciencehistory.org for more information #Downstream #DownstreamAtTheInstitute #ScienceHistoryInstitute #DRBC #DelRiverWatershed #CWA49

Join us on September 30 from 6:00 – 7:00 PM for a virtual lecture by Nobel laureate and medical scientist Peter Agre. The lecture, titled ‘Aquaporin Water Channels: From Atomic Structure to Malaria’ will discuss the special role of water in biology and his transition into malaria research. The Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture is free to the public, but registration is required. Register here: https://www.sciencehistory.org/event/aquaporin-water-channels-from-atomic-structure-to-malaria The Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture is presented jointly by the Science History Institute (where it has been held since 1997), the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, the Department of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of the Sciences, and the Philadelphia Section and Delaware Section of the American Chemical Society.

Experience the new 'Downstream' exhibition at “Making a Splash: A Downstream Opening Celebration” on Friday, September 17 from 5-7pm! Join us for tours, refreshments, and more at the Science History Institute. 'Downstream' examines more than 200 years of water analysis and water protection. See fine art, ads, films, posters, and photographs that capture efforts to understand our water. And learn how the Institute uses objects as diverse as wooden pipes, insects, and a 16-foot, 1964 model of the Delaware River basin to reveal the historical relationships between knowledge, activism, and action. The event is free, but registration is requested! Register here: https://www.sciencehistory.org/event/making-a-splash-a-downstream-opening-celebration ‘Downstream’ is made possible in part by a Cultural and Historical Support Grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Additional support has been provided through a Science Initiative Grant from the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh and The Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh. Downstream is also made possible by the support of lending institutions including The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, the Delaware River Basin Commission, the Independence Seaport Museum, and the Philadelphia Water Department. Masks are Required. Please visit here for our Safety Guidelines: https://www.sciencehistory.org/covid-19”

Today we’re celebrating is #AskACuratorDay ! This day is dedicated to bringing awareness to museum institutions all over the world. You also get the chance to have some of your burning questions answered directly by our Research Curators. Check out our stories for some more Q&A's! #AskACurator

Agriculture moves indoors! Join us for our first Joseph Priestley Society virtual talk of the season to learn about Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) and the technology used to produce hundreds of different delicious and nutritious crops in indoor environments. Learn more about our guest speakers and register here: sciencehistory.org/jps

Experience the new 'Downstream' exhibition at the Science History Institute! On Friday, September 17, 2021, come and enjoy beer, wine, and other refreshments from 5-7pm! 'Downstream' examines more than 200 years of water analysis and water protection. See fine art, ads, films, posters, and photographs that capture efforts to understand our water. And learn how the Institute uses objects as diverse as wooden pipes, insects, and a 16-foot, 1964 model of the Delaware River basin to reveal the historical relationships between knowledge, activism, and action. The event is free, but registration is requested. Register here: http://ow.ly/cbxn50FY85t ‘Downstream’ is made possible in part by a Cultural and Historical Support Grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Additional support has been provided though a Science Initiative Grant from the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh and the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh. Downstream is also made possible by the support of lending institutions including the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, the Delaware River Basin Commission, the Independence Seaport Museum, and the Philadelphia Water Department. Masks are Required. Please visit here for our Safety Guidelines: http://ow.ly/IU1h50FY85u

Experience the new 'Downstream' exhibition at the Science History Institute! On Friday, September 17, 2021, come and enjoy beer, wine, and other refreshments from 5-7pm! 'Downstream' examines more than 200 years of water analysis and water protection. See fine art, ads, films, posters, and photographs that capture efforts to understand our water. And learn how the Institute uses objects as diverse as wooden pipes, insects, and a 16-foot, 1964 model of the Delaware River basin to reveal the historical relationships between knowledge, activism, and action. The event is free, but registration is requested. Register here: http://ow.ly/cbxn50FY85t ‘Downstream’ is made possible in part by a Cultural and Historical Support Grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Additional support has been provided though a Science Initiative Grant from the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh and the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh. Downstream is also made possible by the support of lending institutions including the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, the Delaware River Basin Commission, the Independence Seaport Museum, and the Philadelphia Water Department. Masks are Required. Please visit here for our Safety Guidelines: http://ow.ly/IU1h50FY85u

When Thomas Edison started working on his wax cylinder phonograph in the late 19th century, music was not the first thing on his mind. In fact, he thought that his device might be used to create “talking books” that would help people who were visually impaired--and might even replace braille. Distillations podcast hosts Lisa Berry-Drago and Alexis Pedrick have more. #Distillations #DisabilityHistory #MuseumCollections

IT'S REOPENING DAY! Our museum is officially open and we can't wait to see you! Get ready to see newly refreshed exhibits that tell broader and more diverse stories. Tag us and let us know which exhibit, collection item, or story was your favorite! #PhillyMuseums #MuseumRefresh

On this #MuseumMonday, we're happy to announce that our museum will be reopening on July 1st! Our curators have been busy over the last year refreshing our exhibits and we can't wait to see you. #PhillyMuseums #MuseumReopening #ExhibitRefresh