We had our next-door neighbors over for high tea. Naturally we brought out the Royal Worcester service.

212 years ago this month, Jöns Jacob Berzelius started a series of essays on the nature of chemical proportions, promoting Dalton's atomic theory, in Ann. Phil. vols 2 & 3. #ChemSky 🧪 See some of it here: web.lemoyne.edu/giunta/berza...

א פֿריילעכן חנוכּה! In these dark times, for Jews, for the USA, and for the world, may a growing blight show that the underdog can prevail over evil regimes. #Hanukkah

For the teen interested their Jewish roots, gift my “What’s in a Name? A Young Person’s Genealogy Workbook,” the *only* such contemporary guide to Jewish genealogy for the younger set! (We hear that adult newbies like it too.) #booksky www.betterworldbooks.com/product/deta...

For the science nerd, here is my “O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be,” the 1st history of chemistry in 60 years for laypeople—in graphic format! #booksky #chemsky 🧪 www.booksamillion.com/p/O-Mg-How-C...

For the traveler in your life, gift my “America’s Scientific Treasures,” 2nd edition. Science and technology sites in the USA for adults. #booksky 🧪 global.oup.com/academic/pro...

155 years old this month, Lothar Meyer published a response to Mendeleev's periodic table, as an update, in Ann. Chem. Suppl., 1870, 7, 354-364. A "periodic table" was in the air, though Mendeleev published 1st. #ChemSky 🧪 See here: www.rod.beavon.org.uk/lotharme.htm

Davisson and Germer published their work "Diffraction of Electrons by a Crystal of Nickel" 98 years ago this month in Phys. Rev. 30(6), Dec 1927, p 705, proof that electrons had wavelike attributes (and started LEED in surface chemistry). #ChemSky 🧪 Read here at journals.aps.org/pr/pdf/10.11...

(S)-cargot (R)-cargot

Don’t forget that you can still listen to my podcast, “The History of Chemistry”, on your favorite podcast app. #ChemSky 🧪 thehistoryofchemistry.buzzsprout.com

125 years ago this month, Moses Gomberg announced the discovery of the first chemical radical, triphenylmethyl, in JACS, 22(11) 757-771 (Nov 1900). He ended the paper with "I wish to reserve the field for myself." #ChemSky 🧪 Read it here: ia800805.us.archive.org/view_archive...

November 9 was the 138th anniversary of Svante Arrhenius’s “On the Dissociation of Substances Dissolved in Water,” Z. Phys. Chem., I, 637 (1887), describing how electrolytes break up into ions in aqueous solution. #ChemSky 🧪 Read the short paper here: www.chemteam.info/Chem-History...

Found this quote last Night in Jack McDevitt’s sci-fi novel “Infinity Beach” (1997). Posting it for, um, no reason.

60 years ago this month, Woodward and Hoffmann published their famous letter to the Editor of JACS on “Orbital Symmetries and Orientational Effects in a Sigmatropic Reaction.” #ChemSky 🧪 roaldhoffmann.com/sites/defaul...

131 years ago this month, George Stoney proposed the "atom of electricity," or "electron," linking it to the production of electromagnetic waves. The paper appeared in Phil. Mag. in Oct 1894. #ChemSky 🧪 (Note his use of "chemical atom".) Read it here: todayinsci.com/S/Stoney_Geo...

151 years ago this month, J Willard Gibbs published part I of his famous thermodynamic treatment of chemistry in the obscure “Trans Conn Acad Arts Sci”. #ChemSky 🧪Read it here: library.si.edu/digital-libr...

101 years ago this month, Edmund Stoner published "The Distribution of Electrons among Atomic Levels" in Phil. Mag., the first decent description of the Bohr model atom with quantum numbers--soon leading to the postulation of electron spin. #ChemSky 🧪 Read it here: www.chemteam.info/Chem-History...

My latest calligraphic work, the Birkat HaZan: gouache on watercolor paper, scheduled for installation in my dining room. #art #calligraphy #Jewish

On this date in 1861, Alexander Butlerov gave a talk “Einiges über die chemische Structur der Körper,” printed in Zeit. Chem. Phys., perhaps the first time “chemical structure” was used. #ChemSky 🧪 Read a translation here: web.lemoyne.edu/giunta/butle...

Given I know a little about science communication, I am happy to share this commentary by my grad-school housemate. pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...

In Sept 1874, Jacobus van 't Hoff published his article on how molecules are 3D. "A suggestion looking to the extension into space of the structural formulas at present used in chemistry..." which you can read here: #ChemSky 🧪 www.chemteam.info/Chem-History...

This month (September) in 1829, Robert Brown published ”Additional Remarks on Active Molecules” in Philosophical Magazine, Series 2, pp 161-6: the discovery of what is now called Brownian Motion. 🧪 #ChemSky www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gold/pd...

Folx, I have posted the final episode of my podcast, “The History of Chemistry.” Please continue to support it financially on Buzzsprout & Patreon, otherwise it goes away. (Hosting costs money.) 🧪 #ChemSky

Last night was my choir, Sharim v’Sharot’s first rehearsal of the season.

The latest episode of “The History of Chemistry” is up, on chemically detecting life in other star systems.🧪 #Chemsky

Newest episode of "The History of Chemistry" podcast: Finding life chemically in our solar system. 🧪

Folks, I am proud (and floored) to announce that I am the 2026 James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public winner. 🧪

Latest episode of "The History of Chemistry" podcast for all is on the recent history of molecular machines. Hear about the ancestors of our future molecular overlords! 🧪

The latest episode of "The History of Chemistry" podcast discusses how phytofarming has developed. 🧪

Newest post on "The History of Chemistry" podcast is an episode about the history of chemistry 🧪 itself.

Next episode of "The History of Chemistry" is up: listen to a bit about various awards and honors that chemical organizations bestow.🧪

New episode of my podcast "The History of Chemistry" is up, on Greek letters used as symbols in chemistry. 🧪

A couple of weeks ago I was in Stockholm, and I *had* to visit the statue of chemist 🧪 Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who discovered elements, invented modern chemical symbols, and more. Sadly, there is no museum dedicated to him in Stockholm—and there ought to be.

New episode up for "The History of Chemistry" podcast: on photovoltaic cells that operate under indoor illumination. 🧪

I declare independence from tyranny. bsky.app/profile/boro...

From my collection of historical chemistry 🧪 books, here is A Y Rogodin’s “Khemye,” published with other Yiddish scientific works by Farlag Yehude in Warsaw ~1920. Rogodin was an engineer, not chemist. #Yiddish

“Leges Sine Moribus Vanae” is a joke, a sick, sad joke.

From my historical chemistry🧪 books, here is my copy of Englishman Dr Joseph Mellor’s p-chem book, which he apparently liked most of all the books he wrote. Note the quote on the title page! (See p. 13 of the link for a full bio of Mellor.: acshist.scs.illinois.edu/bulletin_ope...)

Newest episode of "The History of Chemistry" podcast is up! Fun and games are integral to chemistry.🧪 I hope for a good reaction.

Latest episode of "The History of Chemistry" podcast is now up, on how chemists viewed water throughout history. Check it out! 🧪

No Faux King Way”, and a cast of a couple thousand in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I hope you did your civic duty too.

Latest episode of "The History of Chemistry" 🧪 podcast now available for all is "Midnight Blue," about George Washington Carver's patented blue, and a 21st-century blue pigment. Try out the podcast!

Latest episode now live for "The History of Chemistry" podcast is how a samarium isotope's half-life is poorly known, even to the point of retracting a paper, which affects other branches of science. 🧪

Continuing the series of historic chemistry🧪 books in my collection, here is a “Laboratory Manual of Organic Chemistry” 2nd ed., by Dr Harry Fisher, an expert in rubber chemistry, published just when polymers were found to be chains of smaller molecules. www.nytimes.com/1961/03/21/a...

My latest podcast episode, on the chemical 🧪 history of wetting and superhydrophobicity (say that five times fast), is now up and running. Listen now!

From my modest collection of historical chemistry🧪 books, a text written by Professor Alexander Smith. Apparently he was highly regarded as an educator (per a column in the Journal of Chemical Education, 1931). pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

After a hiatus due to a death in the family, I am back with a new episode of “The History of Chemistry” podcast, this time on how fractals apply to chemistry.🧪

Another work in my historical chemistry🧪 collection is a gas-analysis book by Dr Walther Hempel. The English translation received a positive review in “Science” when published in 1892. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Another book in my historical chemistry 🧪 collection. Englishman Dr. John Cannell Cain died early. Dr Jocelyn Field Thorpe lived until 1939. Both were organic chemists. www.nature.com/articles/106...

New episode of “The History of Chemistry” podcast is out, on how chemists 🧪 view fossils throughout history.