Alchemy is about a lot more than turning lead into gold or making the philosopher’s stone. Until the 17th century, alchemists worked hard in their laboratories to produce medicines, develop metal- and glass-working techniques, and uncover the quintessential essence of all earthly and celestial matter. This week, Distillations explores the wonders and pitfalls of alchemy—a predecessor to chemistry. CHF’s Anke Timmermann reviews Tara Nummedal’s Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire, and producer Nina Goodby visits the Corning Museum of Glass to see their latest exhibit, Glass of the Alchemists. Element of the week: Quintessence.

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Show Clock

00:00 Opening Credits
00:31 Introduction
01:09 Element of the Week: Quintessence
02:54 Review of Tara Nummedal’s Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire
06:34 Alchemy at the Corning Museum of Glass
11:15 Closing Credits

Resources and References

Visit NOVA online to read up on Isaac Newton’s use of alchemy.
Learn the tricks of the trade in the rare alchemical books of CHF’s Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library.
Check out Glass of the Alchemists at the Corning Museum of Glass.

Credits

Special thanks go to Anke Timmermann for researching the show.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music from the PodSafe Music Network. Additional music is “Velvet,” by Liquid Alchemy, “Bach’s Badinerie,” by Brunswick Due, “Alien Alchemy,” by manmanly, “Raining Steel,” by Disparition, “Bach’s Partita,” by Brunswick Duo, and “The Unknown Halloween Version,” by Savant Trigger.

This week’s image comes from a 1729 alchemical book by Georg von Welling. The book is part of CHF’s Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library. Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.

This week we’re looking back at some of our favorite Distillations episodes. First, we return to one of our first shows with the element of the week. Audra Wolfe explains the standards that make precise measurement possible. Next we visit CHF’s kitchen as Erin McLeary and Integral Molecular’s Joe Rucker try their hand at making mauvine, originally featured on our color show. Finally we revisit our nanotechnology show with a medieval application of carbon nanotubes. Jen Dionisio tells us about Damascus steel in Mystery Solved! Element of the Week: Platinum.

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Show Clock

00:00 Opening Credits
00:32 Introduction
00:50 Element of the Week: Platinum
03:03 Making Mauvine
08:30 Mystery Solved! Damascus Steel
11:17 Closing Credits

Credits

Thank you to Hilary Domush and Chi Chan who researched the shows we featured this week.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music from the PodSafe Music Network.

While chemistry often plays a silent role in art, such as synthetic additives in acrylic paints, both artists and scientists have consciously chosen to intersect the two. CHF’s Erin McLeary was astounded by the work of Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge, who created images with filter paper and called them “self-grown pictures.” In this week’s episode, Erin tells us how Runge discovered the colorful pictures that grow themselves. We also visit two present-day New York artists — Steve Miller and Dove Bradshaw — who have chosen different routes to incorporate science into their art. And this week we learn about neon and how it found its way into popular art. Element of the Week: Neon.

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Show Clock

00:00     Opening Credits
00:32     Introduction
01:09     Element of the Week: Neon
03:37     Commentary: Self-Grown Pictures
06:54     ChemArtists
10:51     Quote: Bo Malmstrom
11:04     Closing Credits

Resources and References

Neon as art: Eric Ehlenberger’s virtual art gallery and the online gallery of Craig Kraft.
On Runge: Bussemas, H. H., G. Harsch, and L. S. Ettre. “Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge (1794-1867): ‘Self-Grown Pictures’ as Precursors of Paper Chromatography,” Chromatographia 38 (1994): 243-254.
For more about the ChemArtists: Steve Miller and Dove Bradshaw.

Credits

This show was researched by Erin McLeary and Audra Wolfe.
Lisa Gray produced the segment on ChemArtists.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music was provided from the Podsafe Music Network. The music at the end of the Element of the Week is Neon Baby, by The Bad Touch. The music for the commentary is Mysterious World, by If. The music for the quotation is Fire against the Sea, by Ichiro Nakagawa.

Photo credits, from top to bottom: Six Continents, art and photo by Dove Bradshaw. Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge title page from the author’s 1858 book Der Bildungstrieb der Stoffe: Veranschaulicht in selbstständig gewachsenen Bildern (Fortsetzung der Musterbilder). Image courtesy of The Othmer Library of Chemical History at CHF, photo by Rosanne DiVernieri. Artist Steve Miller in front of his work With Strings Attached, photo by Lisa Gray.

Color literally fills our world, and it plays a dominant role in how we perceive our surroundings. Scientists have been fascinated with the question of what color is ever since Isaac Newton discovered that white light contains the entire color spectrum. Our show on color explains not only how color is produced, but also looks at how scientists use color to investigate the natural world. Join CHF’s Erin McLeary and Integral Molecular’s Joe Rucker as they whip up a batch of mauvine, the first synthetic dye, in CHF’s catering kitchen. (You can see their results in the glove pictured above.) In this week’s Chemistry in Your Cupboard, learn how you can make your own pH meter with a common vegetable. Element of the Week: Chromium.

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Show Clock

00:00    Opening Credits
00:32     Introduction
01:09     Element of the Week: Chromium
02:54     Chemistry in Your Cupboard
05:12     Making Mauvine
10:47     Quote: Claude Monet
11:06     Closing Credits

Resources and References

On chromium: Web Elements Perioidic Table and this helpful Wikipedia entry
For a good explanation of the red cabbage phenomenon: a lecture demonstration from the University of Minnesota
On mauvine: Simon Garfield, “One Man and His Color: Reflections on Mauve’s 150th Birthday,” Chemical Heritage 24, no. 3 (Fall 2006), 8–10, 35.
On color in general: Philip Ball, Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color (New York, 2001).
Quotation: Claude Monet, as quoted J. Claretie, La Vie á Paris, 1881 (Paris, 1881), p. 26.

Credits

Special thanks to Hilary Domush for researching the show.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music was provided from the Podsafe Music Network. The music for introduction to the Element of the Week is Sage Hill Theme, by Intelect. At the end of the Element of the Week the music is Boom Boom Beckett’s In a Sentimental Mood. The music at the end of Chemistry in Your Cupboard is Dog Day Afternoon, by Freddie Wong. Both the intro and the outro for mauvine segment is Rio Colorado, by Moth to a Candle.

This week’s photo was taken by Gregory Tobias.