Distillations | Science History Institute

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Our Oldest, Deadliest Foe

Tracing the immense misery wreaked by the mosquito.

The Anatomy Riot of 1788

Early Science & Alchemy

When New York’s poor revolted against the city’s grave-robbing medical establishment.

Spying in Plain Sight: Scientific Diplomacy during the Cold War

Policy & Politics

The covert politics behind American efforts to establish scientific freedom around the world.

Distilled #11: A 16th-Century Pop-Up Book

Early Science & Alchemy

How an ancient mathematical pop-up book became “sophisticated.”

Element Hunting in a Nuclear Storm

A fighter pilot’s tragic flight into a nuclear explosion leads to the discovery of two elements.

How Philadelphia’s Water Pollution Problems Shaped the City

The way the city tackled its water pollution problems has made it an unexpected pioneer.

Recommended

For Love of the Lab

Reatha Clark King wanted to be a research chemist, so she made the journey from the segregated South to Illinois. At the University of Chicago her dreams came true.

San Francisco’s Plague Years

As officials spread disinformation, a deadly epidemic edged its way into the United States.

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Making Space for Women in Astronomy

For centuries women have been looking at the stars despite earthly obstacles.

Love, Hate, and Sex from the History of Science

Sex, pettiness, swinging, cemeteries, espionage, murder, and beheadings.

Marie Curie, Marie Meloney, and the Significance of a Gram of Radium

In the 1920s a pioneering journalist summoned the might of American women to revive a Nobelist’s career.

The jogging craze of the 1970s required a change of equipment.