How the Elements Got Their Names | Distillations
“There are bright spots. Some of the vignettes, such as that of cobalt, point us to stories we likely would never have discovered on our own. Wothers also provides surprises about what we assume we know. Take polonium, one of the radioactive elements discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie. It’s named for Poland, yes? Marie Curie (née Maria Skłodowska) was Polish born; of course she would name an element she discovered after her home country.”
Alchemy Arrives in a Burst of Light | Quanta Magazine
“The idea sounds like magic, pure and simple. You create a light beam that can make substances vanish, give them properties they shouldn’t possess, or turn them into a perfect mimic of another substance entirely. It’s 21st-century alchemy, in principle capable not just of making lead resemble gold, but of turning ordinary materials into superconductors.”
The Rise and Fall of Polywater | Science History Institute
“In April 1970 the American Chemical Society held a symposium at Lehigh University, in the steel town of Bethlehem. An entire session focused on water, including anomalous water. A news conference was scheduled to follow. Reporters and the 300 attendees all wanted to better understand the nature of polywater. Passions were high among both skeptics and believers: a fight was simmering.”
The Death of Anton Chekhov, Told in Proteins | Science History Institute
“Chekhov, the author of theatrical masterpieces including The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, and The Three Sisters, had suffered from tuberculosis for two decades before his death in 1904. His biographers suspected he died, at age 44, of tuberculosis-related complications. But it would be 100 years and take the pioneering work of a team of 21st-century chemists to conclusively demonstrate what exactly killed the famed author.”
Throwback Thursday | Brave New Butter | Science History Institute /Distillations
“The butter story fits into a familiar and often charming genre of scientific speculation. Among its earliest practitioners was the French chemist Marcellin Berthelot. When McClure’s Magazine profiled him in 1894, he confidently predicted the disappearance of farms and pastures by the year 2000. “Why not,” he asked, “if it proved cheaper and better to make the same materials than to grow them?” Steaks would come in the form of tablets instead of tenderloins. Fruits would be grown purely for decoration because synthetic foods would replace them on the kitchen table.”