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 in?uenced the way it 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 scienti?c 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 Bunsen's laboratory led to the development of the Bunsen burner, which in turn allowed 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, the bench and the laboratory coat, The Matter Factory explores the history of the chemical museum, which is now almost extinct and whose very existence has been queried. Fascin­ating and unique, it will appeal to practicing chemists, scientists and general readers alike.

ENG