Matter Factory

From white coats to Bunsen burners the laboratory is a controlled space of experimentation, research and invention. But how have the desired functions of the laboratory influenced the way that the laboratory was constructed, laid out, equipped and operated? And how have developments in chemical practice or theory changed the laboratory and the way it is used? The Matter Factory offers a novel approach to the history of chemistry, showing how the development of the laboratory also helped to shape modern scientific practice.

As consumers of leading-edge technology, chemists have driven innovation in laboratory design and the provision of utilities and equipment. For example, the introduction of coal gas into Robert Bunsen’s laboratory led to the eponymous burner, which in turn led to the development of atomic spectroscopy. Is the construction of new laboratories, and the provision of new utilities and equipment, an important element in the development of these novel areas of chemistry? This book tackles these questions by looking at a series of shifts in laboratory design, from eighteenth- to nineteenth-century furnace-centred, classical and industrial research laboratories to the creation of the modern laboratory at the end of the twentieth.

Previous histories of chemistry laboratories have focused on the research carried out within them or the people who occupied them. This book examines the laboratory space itself and the way it is used, from the scientists who developed it to its architectural design, layout and the materials used in its construction. In addition to the development of well-known features, such as the fume cupboard and the bench, The Matter Factory explores the history of the chemical museum, which is now almost extinct. Fascinating and unique, this book will appeal to practising chemists, scientists and general readers alike.

Published in association with the Science Museum, London.