Skip to main content
mobile logo
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • News and Press
    • Careers and Fellowships
    • Get in Touch
    • Join Our Mailing List
  • Visit
    • Event Calendar
    • Program Series
    • Awards
    • Conferences and Symposia
    • Directions
    • Accessibility
  • Host an Event
    • Rooms and Facility
    • Amenities
    • Floor Plans
  • Support
    • Give Now
    • Ways to Give
    • Add to Our Collections
    • Our Giving Community
  • Give Now
  • Research
    • Fellowships
    • Othmer Library
    • Online Catalog
    • Research Centers
    • Research Activities
  • Collections
    • Digital Collections
    • Rare Books
    • Modern Books and Journals
    • Oral Histories
    • Archives
    • Photographs
    • Fine Art
    • Objects
    • Collections Blog
    • Search Collections
  • Distillations
    • Innate
    • Water
    • Podcasts
    • Video
    • About Distillations
  • Museum
    • On View
    • Digital Exhibitions
    • Programs & Activities
    • Past Exhibitions
    • Plan Your Trip
  • Learn
    • Scientific Biographies
    • Try This @ Home
    • Women in Science
    • Rare Earth Elements
    • National History Day
    • Virtual Chemistry
    • Science Matters
    • Zoom Backgrounds
    • #ColorOurCollections
mobile logo
  • COVID Information
  • Visit
    • Museum
    • Othmer Library
    • Getting Here
    +
  • Event Calendar
    • Program Series
    • Awards
    • Conferences & Symposia
    +
  • Learn
    • Historical Biographies
    • Science Matters
    +
  • Distillations
    • Podcast
    • Video
    • Subscribe
    +
  • Research
    • Othmer Library
    • Fellowships
    • Research Centers
    +
  • Collections
  • Facility Rentals
    • Amenities
    • Rooms and Facility
    +
  • Support Our Mission
  • About
    • News & Press
    • Career & Fellowship Opportunities
    • Staff Directory
    • Join Our Mailing List
    +

Select a search area

Distillations

Using stories from science’s past to understand our world

  • Water
  • Culture
  • Early Science & Alchemy
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Pandemic Perspectives
  • People
  • Policy & Politics
  • Tools & Technology
  • Podcast
  • Video
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Water
  • Culture
  • Early Science & Alchemy
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Pandemic Perspectives
  • People
  • Policy & Politics
  • Tools & Technology
  • Podcast
  • Video
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Explore Distillations
  • Water
  • Culture
  • Early Science & Alchemy
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Pandemic Perspectives
  • People
  • Policy & Politics
  • Tools & Technology
  • Podcast
  • Video
  • About
  • Subscribe

Share

The World’s Only Natural Nuclear Reactor
Environment

When French authorities learned about some missing uranium, they thought someone had stolen it to make rogue atomic bombs. It turned out to be more incredible than that. 

How New DNA Sleuthing Can Expose Dangerous Killers—and You
Tools & Technology

The downside of using genetic genealogy to fight crime.

The Real Tragedy of Robert Oppenheimer
People

In this episode of The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean examines the dark, restless side of the father of the atomic bomb.

The Problem of Piltdown Man
Policy & Politics

Seduced by a racist idea, archaeologists hyped an outrageous hoax.

The Brilliant, Groundbreaking, and Wildly Overrated Leonardo da Vinci
People

In this episode of The Disappearing Spoon, Sam Kean revisits the reputation of the renowned Renaissance man.

A Fix for the Unfixable: Making the First Heart-Lung Machine
Tools & Technology

Seventy years ago, a group of stubborn Philadelphia scientists and a brave 18-year-old pushed surgery to its final frontier.

  • Load more
Recommended
The Dark Stars of Marietta Blau
People
A scientist pitted hard work and ingenuity against the constraints she faced as a Jewish woman.
Searching for Isabel Morgan
People
Reconsidering the fate of an overlooked polio fighter.
Crowdfunding Radium
People
When American women bought Marie Curie a vital gram of the element.
The Sun Queen and the Skeptic: Building the World’s First Solar Houses
Environment
In the mid-20th century, colleagues-turned-rivals Maria Telkes and Hoyt Hottel engineered new ways of heating American homes.
The Nurse Who Introduced Gloves to the Operating Room
Pandemic Perspectives
 Caroline Hampton and the forgotten origins of the first personal protective equipment.
Dr. Butler and the Quest for the Philosophers’ Stone
Early Science & Alchemy
How searching for alchemy’s secrets helped create modern science.
Lou Henry Hoover, Lost in Translation
People
Though often celebrated, the adventurous First Lady never received full credit for her scientific accomplishments.
Ruth Patrick’s Lovely Creatures
Water
The groundbreaking ecologist showed that the biological diversity within a stream can be used to diagnose its health.
  • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Press
  • Mailing List
Headquarters
315 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215.925.2222
Directions
Museum Hours
West Coast
415.798.2104
Get in Touch
Boston/Cambridge
617.500.8668
Get in Touch
Europe
Maison de la Chimie
28, Rue Saint-Dominique
75007 Paris
France
Get in Touch
© 2023 Science History Institute | Privacy Policy | Accessibility

The Science History Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization registered in the U.S. under EIN: 22-2817365.