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Introduction

If you’re reading this, there’s a high likelihood that you work in science—probably chemistry. You’ve used beakers, flasks, or 96-well plates in sample preparation, you’ve made up buffer solutions, you can identify a chromatographic trace or an atomic absorption wavelength, and you know the nuances of data acquisition and regulatory compliance. You may have used instruments of incredible sophistication, capable of quantifying an attomole of a protein, or perhaps designed a plant to make fine chemicals in multiton batches. These are the accomplishments of modern chemistry, and they require tools and materials undreamt of a century ago. This is a story of the companies and organizations that today provide these indispensable components to what we call the enterprise of the chemical sciences.
Read entire introduction [112 KB PDF]

PART I

FROM PROCESS
TO PRODUCT

From Process To Product
 

The history of the modern chemical enterprise begins in processes and products that formed the foundation of the industrial revolution. Its processes have harnessed the innermost structures of nature, becoming the means to make and manipulate the world. Its products have served a myriad of uses. From oil and petrochemicals, to the vast parade of inorganics, to the most modern medicinals and biotechnologicals, the chemical industry has created the framework of our civilization. For the past two centuries, the processes and products of the chemical enterprise have been fundamental in making the world what it is today.

 

PART II

INSTRUMENTS
AND INDUSTRIES

Instruments and Industries
 

From time immemorial, the five human senses were the only window humanity had on the world. But with the development of scientific instruments, from the earliest prism to the most modern spectroscope, the hidden world of nature became ever more accessible. Today, these instruments are such an integral part of modern reality that it would be incomprehensible to live and work without them. To many, these are no longer just the tools of science, but the very definition of science—the only true means of knowing and understanding the world.

 

PART III

THE BUSINESS OF CHEMISTRY
[92 KB PDF]
A dateline of events of interest to the chemical enterprise

PART IV

ENTERPRISE LIST
[76 KB PDF]
A chapter-by-chapter index of companies mentioned

ADVERTISER INDEX [36 KB PDF]

 

POSTER

THE PERIODIC TABLE OF THE INSTRUMENTS
[13 MB PDF]
Using historical advertisements, figures, and images, this full-color poster presents a selection of some of the most important instruments, techniques, and related materials of the chemistry world, together with the portraits of a few key pioneers—all of significant import to the development of the modern chemical enterprise.