Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
more accessible many of the interactives actually make chemistry appear
incomprehensible 'magic in a box'.
What is the image of chemistry portrayed by the Deutsches Mu-
seum's galleries? It has always emphasized the long history of chemistry,
although not as far back as the Science Museum's ancient Egyptians. The
development of chemistry is largely seen through its intellectual devel-
opment and fundamental principles. In contrast to the Science Museum,
there appears to be less emphasis on specific discoveries, but this is per-
haps a matter of emphasis rather than a significant difference. In the
Deutsches Museum's presentation, chemistry has developed rapidly but
mainly in the twentieth century. There is a curious gap in the late nine-
teenth century, which is very evident in the 1930 guide. The Deutsches
Museum emphasizes the numerous sub-divisions of modern chemistry
instead of its many ways of doing things, perhaps a Germanic concern
with structure rather than action. While the Science Museum, at least in
the pure chemistry galleries, has presented chemistry as the useful sci-
ence across a broad front, the Deutsches Museum has focused on its role
within the chemical industry, perhaps inevitably so given its main source
of funding. The 1930 gallery had a 'hall of honor', a parallel to the mu-
seum's main
Ehrensaal
(now translated as the 'Hall of Fame'), but this
was dedicated to “famous founders of the German chemical industry” not
famous academic chemists. Both the Science Museum and the Deutsches
Museum have consistently highlighted the contribution of chemistry to
medicine and physiology, although the Germans in the 1930s seemed cu-
riously interested in the relationship between the energy content and the
cost of food, perhaps a reflection of the cost of food in Germany at the
time.
Given the strength of German chemistry in 1906, and for some time
afterwards, the chemistry galleries at the Deutsches Museum were sur-
prisingly international even in the (early) 1930s. The detailed description
of the chemistry galleries in the 1930 guidebook mentions six German
chemists and alchemists (Agricola, Ercker, Liebig, Mitscherlich, Bunsen,
Wöhler), three British chemists (Boyle, Priestley, Cavendish), two Swed-
ish chemists (Scheele, Berzelius) and a French chemist (Lavoisier). It is
difficult to make a direct comparison with the Science Museum, but there
was definitely a strong bias towards British chemists until the 1999 gal-
