Distillations magazine

Coal fueled the cities of the Industrial Revolution. But coal did far more than power steam engines and heat homes.

Wars are often fought over resources, but as far as we know only one war has ever been fought over fertilizer.

Meet J. J. Thomson, who disproved Einstein’s dictum that the man “who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of thirty will never do so.”

Jacques Brandenberger spent years perfecting a transparent, moisture-repellent film he named cellophane.

Joseph E. Snodgrass’s poetry memorably reflected the public faith in bloodletting as medical treatment.

Vanadium was a rare metal, but for 100 years after its first discovery in 1801 no one cared—until a chemist discovered it strengthened steel.

Electricity and Enlightenment go together like Benjamin Franklin and 100-dollar bills.

A mother’s dogged search for the cause of her babies’ mental decline led to the discovery of a new disease.

By 1790 chemistry was the up-and-coming science. The products of chemistry—industrially useful salts, acids, and alkalis—would soon be measured not by the ounce (or the gram) but by the ton.

Joseph Black, one of the first to realize that air was composed of many gases, isolated carbon dioxide, and discovered latent heat.

The feud between William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy over the newly discovered element thallium rested on the very definition of discovery.

Faced with the prospect of a world without oil, French engineer Eugene Jules Houdry turned low-grade coal into gasoline.

Two years after getting his PhD, future Nobel Prize winner Marshall Nirenberg set out to probe the genetic code despite having no experience in the fields at the forefront of this work.

Gutta percha, a natural plastic found in tree sap, allowed the expansion of the 19th century’s global communications network.

In the 19th century a young Italian outside the chemistry mainstream played a part in the creation of the first periodic table.

David Sarnoff wanted to be a journalist; instead he created commercial broadcasting and helped kick off the color revolution in television.

Mildred Cohn fought prejudice to become a successful Jewish female chemist in an less-than-welcoming world.

The science behind a cool, refreshing treat—ice cream.