Materials Science

Saving Old Movies

Distillations Magazine
An early 20th century porcelain painting kit

Distilled #5: Porcelain Painting

Distillations Video

Innovation Day 2018
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Distilled #2: An Early (Gold-Plated!) Not-Quite-IUD

Distillations Video
RHex marches up a dune in Pismo Beach, California, carrying a mechanical sensor that scrapes the dune’s surface to detect how much force is needed for the wind to pick up grains of sand.

Thinking on Your Feet—or with Them

Distillations Blog

Anticipating the Future: Historical Narratives, Imagination, and Innovation
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Innovation and Regulation on the Open Seas: The Development of Sea-Nine Marine Antifouling Paint

Studies in Materials Innovation
Research

Concrete Solutions

Distillations Magazine

Here Comes the Spray Man!

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Fizzy Water

Distillations Video

How to Mine an Asteroid

Distillations Video

Broad Street Review: Eve of Destruction
Media Coverage
Still image from Rethinking Ink animation

Rethinking Ink

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Joseph Priestley Society Symposium

Event

Joseph Priestley Society Symposium

Event

CBS: Elements of Life and Death at Chemical Heritage Museum
Media Coverage

First Friday: Death and Taxidermy

Event

First Friday: The Life and Afterlife of Stuff

Event
Rebecca Ortenberg, a program associate in the Institute's Institute for Research. Photo by Emma Lee, WHYY.

NewsWorks: Audio tour highlights historic preservation flash points in Philly's Old City
Media Coverage
Encyclopédie by Denis Diderot.

Things Fall Apart

Museum
Tim Cannon

Fast Forward

Distillations Magazine
LZR Racer

Winning Skin

Distillations Magazine
Crocidolite asbestos, Pomfret Mine, Vryburg, South Africa.

Flexible Meaning
Research

Second Skin: The Science of Stretch
Museum

Handi-Wrap sandwich bags
Collections

Yarn inspection at Du Pont
Collections
Detail of the Beckman HC/CO tester. Courtesy of Beckman Coulter Heritage Council

Beckman HC/CO Tester, Beckman Instruments
Research
Bird with Plastic

Polymer Scientist—Medical Applications
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Bird with Plastic

Pro−Plastic Bag Advocate
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Bird with Plastic

Case Study for Waste: Trash and Treasure
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Oral History Collections
Collections
Carl “Speed” Marvel in PBI vest

Tough Stuff

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Bird with Plastic

Game Home
Learn

Conflicts in Chemistry: The Case of Plastics
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Joseph Priestley Society: Kim Gingras

Event
Women in Chemistry

Women in Chemistry
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Historical Biographies
Learn
Robert W. Gore demonstrating the expansion of ePTFE, ca. 1982.

Robert W. Gore
Historical Profile
Uma Chowdhry.

Uma Chowdhry
Historical Profile
Operation Greenhouse

An Aging Army

Distillations Magazine

Modern Books and Journals
Collections
Baseball

Turf Wars

Distillations Magazine
A giant leg, 35 feet high, advertised nylons to the Los Angeles area.

Nylon: A Revolution in Textiles

Distillations Magazine
When William Aspdin stumbled on the secret to modern concrete, it was the first and one of the few fortuitous steps in an unsteady life.

Hard-Headed Man

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The Eighth Wonder of the World

Communicating Underwater

Distillations Magazine
Alex Wellerstein

Telling Secrets

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Silly Putty

A Successful Failure

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Museo Territoriale Bassa Friulana

A Future Woven in Rayon

Distillations Magazine

Double Vision

Distillations Magazine
White Mountains

Living in the Town Asbestos Built

Distillations Magazine
The 17-jewel movement of a 1967 Omega Moon watch.

Making Gemstones

Distillations Magazine
Rhoplex advertisement painting over graffiti

Do-It-Yourself Paints

Distillations Magazine
Making Modernity exhibition at the Museum at CHF.

Images of Modernity

Distillations Magazine
Reatha Clark King

For Love of the Lab

Distillations Magazine
Lead Balloon Contest

Up, Up, and Away

Distillations Magazine
Distillations Magazine

Nano Pop

Distillations Magazine
Molding a Bright Future in Plastics

It’s a Mad, Mad World: Dow and the Age of Consumption

Distillations Magazine
La Bella Principessa

The Da Vinci Question

Distillations Magazine
Foster Grant Sunglasses Ad

Plastic Town

Distillations Magazine
Liquid-crystal displays, a fundamental element of much of today’s technology, found their first commercial use behind a bar.

A Cloudy Past

Distillations Magazine