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Chem Chronicles

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Chem Chronicles: The first patent holder in the U.S. was a ‘Pott Ash Maker’

Robert Fulton, Eli Whitney, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford — these are some of the larger-than-life figures who spring to mind when reflecting on the history of innovation and invention in the U.S. But the first person in American history to…

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Chem Chronicles: Discovery and Re-discovery of Mechanochemistry

A reclusive expert of 19th-century photography laid the foundation for mechanochemistry, a once-ignored field that is re-emerging in ‘green chemistry’ applications  For decades in the late 1800s, Carey Lea had been fascinated by the chemistry of photography, and had studied…

ChemChronicles: ‘Eye it Before You Buy It,’ The Invention of Cellophane

Transparent polymer film started with an accident . . . and spurred a packaging revolution One night in Paris, in 1900, Swiss chemist Jacques Brandenberger was enjoying dinner in a restaurant when he noticed that a fellow patron had spilled…