Distillations magazine

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.

In the early 19th century people dreamed of using light to paint permanent images.

The first balloons, both hot-air and hydrogen powered, drew spectacular crowds and set off a craze—balloonomania!

Svante Arrhenius was one of the founders of modern physical chemistry. His later work cosmological work carried him beyond the scientific limits of many of his colleagues.

A personal portrait of the Nobel prize-winning crystallographer.

Cellophane celebrates its 100th anniversary with a comeback, after losing out to cheaper imitations in the 1970s.

Scientists have only recently begun to investigate the chemical components that give wines their distinct and complex flavors.

Part experimenter and part entertainer, Humphry Davy was a 19th-century icon.

The founding of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers represented the beginning of American technological dominance in the 20th century.

The invention of nylon in 1938 promised sleekness and practicality for women and soon ushered in a textile revolution for consumers and the military alike.

Technologies using nanosized objects have been around for hundreds of years.

Dalton proposed atomic theory in 1808; an additional century passed before the theory was universally accepted by scientists.