Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
anniversary of its predecessor, the Institute of Chemistry and it did play a
role in the development of the gallery. Nonetheless the government
through the Department of Environment's Property Services Agency was
still the major sponsor of the gallery in terms of direct input into its con-
struction and indirect financial support. The main constituency remained
chemists and chemical educators, but the scientific instrument makers
had almost entirely disappeared, a major change even since 1964. On the
other hand, historians of chemistry had become an important element of
the curators' constituency. It is fair to say that any chemistry gallery
from this period onwards had to pass muster with the historians of chem-
istry as a group. The target audience was “The curious but uninformed
16 year old and above” and independent adults (Anderson 2005).
The goal of the redisplay was to show recent changes in chemistry
but portray its history as well, with an emphasis on analysis, structure de-
termination, and archaeological chemistry. The curators strove to “broad-
en out the chronological and thematic coverage beyond that previously
attempted” (Anderson 2006). The development of the new displays was
strongly influenced by Anderson's close links with the chemistry de-
partment at Oxford and the influence of Professor Edward Hall who had
set up an archaeological research laboratory at Oxford. Objects acquired
from Oxford included a pioneering infrared spectrometer built by Harold
Thompson, Leslie Sutton's electron diffraction apparatus, and the large
NMR magnet used by Rex Richards. Objects associated with the early
development of gas chromatography including Archer Martin's gas den-
sity balance, Tony James's gas chromatograph, and an electron capture
detector made by James Lovelock were also obtained. Other important
acquisitions were associated with X-ray crystallography: the metal plates
used in James Watson and Francis Crick's DNA model, Kendrew and
Perutz's model of myoglobin (the so-called 'forest of rods') and Kath-
leen Lonsdale's apparatus and models. By contrast, the more historical
sections of the gallery were shaped by Anderson's work on the Playfair
Collection at the Royal Scottish Museum and his interest in alembics, as
evidenced by his acquisition of a medieval Islamic alembic at an auction.
Some of Joseph Black's glassware was borrowed from the Royal Scot-
tish Museum and there was a panel about Edinburgh's 'Mortar Willie',
an eighteenth-century grinder called William Wilson.
