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.
Click here for all other issues of Notes from the Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.
See what new acquisitions have been recently added to the Oesper collection.
Click here to access the July-August 2017 list.
See what new science books have been recently added to the Geology-Physics-Math and Langsam Libraries.
Click here to access the July-August 2017 list.
See what new science books have been recently added to the Geology-Physics-Math and Langsam Libraries.
Click here to access the May-June 2017 list.
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.
Click here for all other issues of Notes from the Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.
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.
Click here for all other issues of Notes from the Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.
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.
Click here for all other issues of Notes from the Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.
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.
Click here for all other issues of Notes from the Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.
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.
Justus von Liebig (1803-1873) posing with his apparatus for combustion analysis.
Issue 40 outlines the history and importance of the chemical technique known as combustion analysis and highlights a reproduction of Liebig’s famous 1831 instrument for this purpose made by the late Dr. Melvyn Usselman of the University of Western Ontario and donated to our museum collections in 2005.
Click here for all other issues of Notes from the Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.