Fleeing the Center : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 47, November/December 2017

A Babcock centrifuge and graduated test bottles

A Babcock centrifuge and graduated test bottles

Issue 47 gives a brief history of the laboratory centrifuge illustrated by various instruments in the Oesper Collections.

 

 

 

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Named Glassware, Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 46, September/October 2017

Assorted 19th-century round-bottom wine flasks from the Oesper Collections

Assorted 19th-century round-bottom wine flasks
from the Oesper Collections

Issue 46 explains that common laboratory glassware is often named after famous chemists of the past, though the exact reason for these name choices is not always obvious.

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A Few Alembics : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 45, July/August 2017

A reproduction of a circa 17th-century alembic with an “ostrich”-necked cucubert, clay luting, various receiving flasks, charcoal furnace, bellows, tongs, and poker

A reproduction of a circa 17th-century alembic
with an “ostrich”-necked cucubert, clay luting, various
receiving flasks, charcoal furnace, bellows, tongs, and poker

The 45th issue of Museum Notes gives a brief history of the oldest known distillation apparatus as illustrated by various reproductions found in the Oesper Collections.

 

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Two Chemical Slide Rules : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 44, May/June 2017

Closeup of part of the Ch scale for the circa 1960 Hemmi 257 chemical slide rule.

Closeup of part of the Ch scale for the circa 1960 Hemmi 257 chemical slide rule.

Issue 44 gives a glimpse of two classic chemical slide rules found in the Oesper Collections, one dating from 1814 and the other from 1960.

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A Few Calculators : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 43, March/April 2017

“Comptometer” hand-cranked mechanical calculator.

A circa 1930 American-made “Comptometer”
hand-cranked mechanical calculator.

Issue 43 gives a brief overview of some of the desktop and hand-held calculators used by chemists over the years and currently on display in the hallway outside of the Oesper Collections in Rieveschl Hall.

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A Zeiss Butter Refractometer : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 42, January/February 2017

The circa 1920 Zeiss butter refractometer recently acquired by the Oesper Collections.

The circa 1920 Zeiss butter refractometer recently acquired by the Oesper Collections.

Issue 42 describes a new addition to the museum’s refractometer collection – a circa 1920 Zeiss butter refractometer – and its historical importance as a means for rapidly differentiating between pure butter and margarine.

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A Varian E-4 EPR Spectrometer : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 41, November/December 2016

The Varian E-4 EPR instrument as it appeared while still in use in Dr. Bobst’s laboratory.

The Varian E-4 EPR instrument as it appeared while still in use in Dr. Bobst’s laboratory.

Issue 41 describes a new addition to the instrument collection on the mezzanine of the chemistry-biology library. Dating from the early 1970s, this desktop Varian E-4 Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Spectrometer was donated by Dr. Albert Bobst of the UC Chemistry Department.

Click here for all other issues of Notes from The Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.