Distillations | Science History Institute

How RCA Fell Flat on Flat-Screen TVs

Tools & Technology

In the 1960s RCA created the world’s first liquid-crystal displays. How did the company fail to cash in on one of the modern world’s most ubiquitous technologies?

Distilled #10: Fancy Portraits for Factory Workers

Depicting the everyman of the scientific enterprise.

Searching for Schizophrenia

In the late 1960s an international contingent of psychiatrists took up a monumental task: making schizophrenia mean the same thing to doctors around the world.

Smallpox and the Long Road to Eradication

It’s one thing to make a scientific discovery, but making it count is another thing entirely.

The Transfermium Wars: Scientific Brawling and Name-Calling during the Cold War

Policy & Politics

The transfermium elements—the fleeting, lab-made substances that populate the end of the periodic table—have a history built on pride and acrimony.

Book Club: The Risks and Rewards of Rare Earth Elements

Policy & Politics

Our book club reads Rare: The High-Stakes Race to Satisfy Our Need for the Scarcest Metals on Earth by Keith Veronese.

Recommended

Powerful Effervescence

In the 18th century Joseph Priestley and others developed processes for manufacturing artificially carbonated mineral water, uniting the therapeutic powers of an ancient natural restorative with the emerging science of modern chemistry.

Baking Up a Storm

When crime and politics influenced American baking habits.

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Brave New Butter

In the early 20th century, chemists prophesied a future that seemed both surreal and somehow within reach.

A Recipe for Good Health

John Harvey Kellogg’s Battle Creek Sanitarium was at the intersection of new ideas of religion, health, and nutrition.

Probing the Mysteries of Human Digestion

The strange, sometimes sickening things we’ve done to understand what goes on inside our guts.

Processed: Food Science and the Modern Meal

Tools & Technology

The early 20th century was a rich time for creating new ways to process food.

Political Scientist

Policy & Politics

Physicist Rush Holt Jr. discusses his time in Congress and why scientists should embrace the political realm.