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.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Scholar@UC Upgrade and Content Freeze

Scholar@UC is undergoing an upgrade!  On Oct. 19 or soon after, Scholar@UC will freeze content to undergo a planned migration to an upgraded platform, “Scholar 3.0”.  During the freeze, all content including works, collections, and user profiles will be available but read-only; submitting new content will not be possible during this time.  The content freeze is projected to last a little over one week (restoring full access on October 30th or soon after).  Once the migration is complete, an all-clear email will be sent out and new content contributions and changes can resume.

The Scholar@UC 3.0 upgrade includes some exciting new features: Continue reading

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.

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

 

 

 

 

 

The Graduate School Extols the Benefits of Scholar@UC

scholar@uc

A recent article by Danniah Daher, graduate assistant to the Graduate School Office, entitled Scholar@UC: The Archive You Need, talks about the need to preserve and protect scholarly work and research data by submitting it to the university repository. Linda Newman, head of digital collections and repositories, is quoted as saying, “The mission of Scholar@UC is to preserve the permanent intellectual output of UC…We are very serious about preservation. We’re also very serious about access. We want to make the content accessible—content that otherwise would just be sitting on someone’s hard drive in their office. We consider preservation and access our two most important jobs.”

The full article can be read online at http://grad.uc.edu/student-life/news/scholaratuc.html.

Available at https://scholar.uc.edu/, Scholar@UC is a digital repository that enables the University of Cincinnati community to share its research and scholarly work with a worldwide audience. Faculty and staff can use Scholar@UC to collect their work in one location and create a durable and citeable record of their papers, presentations, publications, datasets, or other scholarly creations. Students, through an approved process, may contribute capstone projects such as senior design projects, theses, and dissertations.

The mission of Scholar@UC is to preserve the permanent intellectual output of UC, to advance discovery and innovation, to foster scholarship and learning through the transformation of data into knowledge, to collect a corpus of works that can be used for teaching and to inspire derivative works, and to enhance discoverability and access to these resources.

Job posting: Digital Lab Manager, University of Cincinnati Libraries

The University of Cincinnati Libraries is seeking a Digital Lab Manager (a 3-year renewable position). The successful candidate will direct the operations of a digital lab in a university research library, including digitizing rare books, manuscripts and special collections, managing digitization projects and workflows, maintaining equipment and software, providing quality control, and supervising student assistants. This is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic and diverse organization in a great university, great city, with high potential for interesting technical work.

Evaluation of candidates begins on September 21, 2017. The University of Cincinnati is an EE/AA employer. For more information and application instructions see: https://jobs.uc.edu/job/Cincinnati-Digital-Lab-Manager-OH-45201/425512200/.

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.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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

 

 

 

 

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.

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