Museum helps UC Chemistry celebrate 150 years

Museum helps UC Chemistry celebrate 150 years

UC's museum, a national historic chemical landmark, has a new curator

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Like other sciences, chemistry can seem a little cold and detached.

Science and Engineering Librarian Mark Chalmers tries to put a personal face on the subject to help his students at the University of Cincinnati relate to this fundamental discipline.

"Everything in chemistry is named for people: the Aufbau principle, the Bunsen burner, Boyle's law. I connect with chemistry students by showing them who these people were and the context of the time they lived, whether it was Revolutionary France or having to flee Nazi Germany," he said.

"These people were making profound scientific contributions against incredible backdrops of history. I try to bring personalities to the people who are just names in textbooks."

It's a lesson he learned from writings by the late American chemist Ralph Oesper, whose endowment helped establish the university's Oesper Collections in the History of Chemistry museum as well as a professorship with help from the Department of Chemistry and UC Libraries.

Senior Librarian Ted Baldwin said the Oesper Museum gives UC students a better appreciation for the evolution of the science they are studying. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II

The Oesper Collections is a nationally recognized gallery of scientific artifacts, books, journals, photos and prints related to the history of chemistry.

"We're a museum, library and portrait and print collection," said Chalmers, the museum curator.

Tucked in a quiet corner of Rieveschl Hall, the museum boasts a reproduction laboratory from the early 1900s along with antique lab equipment, custom glassware and photographs of chemistry titans like Marie Curie. There is also a library of chemistry books, journals and documents chronicling centuries of discoveries.

Ted Baldwin, UC Senior Librarian

Chalmers opened one book the size of a paperback, titled "Pirotechnia," that was published in 1550 around the time Lady Jane Grey was beheaded at just 17 after serving a nine-day reign as queen of England.

"This was before chemistry was even used as a word. 'Pirotechnia' was an early term for chemistry, the technology and art of manipulating fire," he said.

The library has many such books dating back hundreds of years and chronicling the people, discoveries and principles of chemistry in dozens of languages, including a 1789 copy of Antoine Lavoisier's "Elementary Treatise of Chemistry."

"This book is commonly referred to as the first chemistry textbook," Chalmers said. "It's central to what is lovingly referred to as the first chemical revolution. And it has beautiful engravings prepared by Lavoisier's wife."

UC's Oesper Collections features antique bottles and chemistry equipment dating back to the 1800s. Curator Mark Chalmers also filled dozens of public display cases at the newly renovated Old Chemistry building with photos, lab equipment and memorabilia from the museum. Photo/Michael Miller

Celebrating 150 years

This is a big year for chemistry at UC. The university is celebrating 150 years of chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences. And in September UC reopened its Old Chemistry building after $190 million in renovations.

The American Chemical Society this year named UC Professor George Rieveschl's discovery of Benadryl a national historic chemical landmark. Previously, the group recognized UC's Oesper Collections with that honor.

The department is among the oldest at UC. Besides launching the careers of countless students in fields from manufacturing to pharmaceuticals, the Chemistry Department has faithfully documented the history of chemistry around the world and in Cincinnati through the museum.

"The museum brings so many elements of chemistry together," UC Senior Librarian Ted Baldwin said.

Thanks to digital technology, scientific equipment has become largely automated over the years. But early chemists often had to build their own custom equipment for their innovative experiments.

Baldwin said it's useful for today's students to see how these complicated chemistry problems were solved by students generations ago using rudimentary and sometimes custom-made tools.

"So all of this equipment helps give you an appreciation for times when things weren't standardized," he said. "It's interesting to see how scientific methods and tools evolved."

The late Professor William Jensen served as the Oesper Museum's first curator. Photo/Joseph Fuqua II

Public outreach

Chalmers took over curatorship of the museum from chemistry Professor Emeritus William Jensen, who passed away a year ago. Jensen founded the museum and served as its first curator. He greatly expanded the museum's offerings by soliciting donations of lab equipment from universities across the country where he lectured.

"The 150th anniversary of the Chemistry Department is a huge deal. One of my core values in the Oesper Collections is not just chemistry history but Cincinnati chemistry history," Chalmers said.

Cincinnati was a cornerstone of the chemical industry and chemical education during the last century.

"The first chemical industry wave was in Philadelphia and Boston. And moving westward, Cincinnati was one of the big centers of industry beyond the East Coast," Chalmers said.

This was driven in part by American manufacturers like Shepherd Chemical Co., Pilot Chemical and Procter & Gamble Co., which is headquartered in Cincinnati.

"Jensen called Cincinnati one of the most important centers of chemical industry and education in the postcolonial expansion of America," Chalmers said.

The museum is open by appointment, but Chalmers said he eventually would like to offer regular hours. UC's chemistry museum will take part in the Museums and Historic Sites of Greater Cincinnati's annual History Sampler from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 11 at the American Sign Museum. Admission is free.

Chalmers invites faculty to take advantage of the museum's offerings whenever it's relevant for their classes. He can even help them prepare learning exercises around the tour.

"My goal is to facilitate better integration of the museum with the department, the curriculum across the College of Arts and Sciences and the other colleges and as a scholarly destination with the national community of historians of chemistry," he said.

Featured image at top: Mark Chalmers, curator of UC's Oesper Collections in the History of Chemistry museum, reads a book in the museum's reproduction 1900s chemistry lab. Photo/Michael Miller

Mark Chalmers reads a book in the Oesper Museum's reproduction 1900s chemistry laboratory. Photo/Michael Miller

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