Category: Chemistry

Technicians who work a chemistry related field

Otto Baumbach in 1928

Otto Baumbach

Otto Baumbach (1882-1966) was a glass blower whose work in Manchester was vital to Nobel Laureate Ernest Rutherford.

Blanche Lawrence. Image from the September 1949 edition of the magazine Ebony.

Blanche Lawrence

Blanche J. Lawrence (1921-?) graduated from Tuskegee University before going on to work as a technician and then junior chemist on the Manhattan Project.

Irene Curie on a mobile x-ray unit, 1916 (unknown source)

Irène Curie

Irène Curie (1897-1956) was the daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie. Hers was a glittering scientific career that started when she was an X-ray radiographer in WW1.

Bunsen’s original design.

Peter Desaga

Peter Desaga (1812 – 1879) was an instrument maker from Heidelberg who designed and built the first Bunsen burner.

Old Ashmolean 1685

Christopher White

Christopher White (c.1650-1695?) was the first professional laboratory technician. Working in Oxford he was apothecary, alchemist, experimenter, teacher, and demonstrator.

Matthew working at a lathe

Matthew Broadbent: a bespoke technician

Matthew is a mechanical engineer working in the School of Chemistry building bespoke apparatus. He works with aluminium, steel, Teflon, and bikes, although the latter is (mostly) in his spare time. This is his #TechnicianJourney.

Denis Papin – a technician under pressure

Denis Papin (1647-1712) fleeing religious persecution in France he found work in London with Robert Boyle and at the Royal Society. He is the forgotten inventor of the pressure cooker and the first practical steam engine.