Royal Society of Chemistry

HISTORICAL GROUP

Web pages prepared by Dr Gerry P Moss, School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, England. E-mail: g.p.moss@qmul.ac.uk

Chairman: Prof John W Nicholson, 52 Buckingham Road, Hampton Middlesex TW12 3JG, England. E-mail: jwnicholson01@gmail.com

Secretary: Dr Mike Leggett E-mail: leggett189@btinternet.com

Treasurer: Stanley Langer, 31 Hallswelle Way, Temple Fortune, London NW11 0DH, England. E-mail; stanley1910@yahoo.co.uk

Membership: Dr Alice Halman. E-mail: alicehalman@yahoo.com

Newsletter Editor: Dr Anna Simmons, Epsom Lodge, La Grande Route de St Jean, St John, Jersey, JE3 4FL a.simmons@ucl.ac.uk

The Historical Group exists to encourage an interest in the history of chemistry and chemical industry among members of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and others. Membership is open to non-members of the RSC and embraces a wide range from those whose interest in the history of chemistry is a hobby to teachers of chemistry at all levels and professional historians.

The Group holds twice yearly meetings when academic papers are read and discussed. Summaries of papers read at these meetings are included in the Historical Group Newsletter along with reviews of recent books in the subject and news of other meetings and forthcoming events. The Newsletter is published twice yearly. Contributions of around 2,500 words on topics of current interest in the history of chemistry are invited for inclusion at the discretion of the Editor. The Editor is very happy to discuss possible contributions prior to submission. The contents of the last issue, Summer 2023, are given below with a link to the PDF (0.9 MB).


Next meeting on THURSDAY 16 OCTOBER 2025

The next meeting will be on Astrochemistry at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BA [Click here for a map of the location of Burlington House and Royal Society of Chemistry.

Details available in the Summer 2025 Newsletter


How to join the Historical Group

If you are a member of the RSC you should contact the Membership Department (membership@rsc.org or ring 01223 432141) quoting your name and membership number. If you have any problems or queries, please contact the RSCHG Membership Secretary, Dr Mike Leggett leggett189@btinternet.com. All members of the Group can download the Newsletter as a PDF on www.rsc.org/historical or https://rschg.qmul.ac.uk/; no password is needed.


Other Useful Web pages

The Group maintains contact with colleagues in the Division of the History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society and the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences.

The Library & Information Centre, Historical Chemistry Information Service.

The Chemical Heritage Foundation.

ACS Historical Division.

The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry.

Details of Nobel Prize winners; portraits; and other details.

List of Nobel Prize winners for Chemistry.

Chemical Heritage Foundation.

History of Pharmacy Forum.

The History of Chemical Engineering.

The Classic Chemistry Page.

Alchemy Home Page.

Historic samples and specimens from the Chemistry Department, Imperial College, London.

History of chemistry in Heidelberg

Science & Civilisation in China Project (Needham Research Institute).

There is a History of Chemistry Mail List or email chem-hist-request@mailman.uni-regensburg.de

To send messages email chem-hist@mailman.uni-regensburg.de


Historical Group Newsletter and Summary of Papers
and Occasional Papers

Short articles on the history of chemistry for the Newsletter are welcome and should be sent to the editor, Dr Anna Simmons, Epsom Lodge, La Grande Route de St Jean, St John, Jersey, JE3 4FL a.simmons@ucl.ac.uk. Please consult the Instructions for Authors.

No 87. Winter 2025 Newsletter

For a PDF copy of the Newsletter (630 KB) click here

Contents

  From the Editor (Anna Simmons)

RSC HISTORICAL GROUP NEWS
  Secretary’s Report for 2024 (Peter Morris)
  Message from the New Secretary of RSC Historical Group (Mike Leggett)
  Message from the Membership Secretary Alice Halman
  LinkedIn

ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY HISTORICAL GROUP MEETINGS AND ONLINE LECTURES
  Astrochemistry Meeting
  Online Lectures

OBITUARY
  Raymond G. Anderson (Peter Morris)

NEWS FROM THE RSC LIBRARY
  The Historical Collection 2.0 (David Allen)

NEWS FROM THE DIVISION OF HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY

SHORT ESSAYS
  Dr Ishbel Campbell (1905-1997) (John Nicholson) The Creation of the British Museum’s Research Laboratory (Vincent Daniels)
  Magnetic Coatings and the Control Data Corporation (Kerry Pendergast)
  Two Books That Led Me to History of Science and Technology (Michael Jewess)
  New Gravestone for John Newlands Unveiled (Peter Morris)

RSC HISTORICAL GROUP MEETING REPORT
  Chemistry, History and Medicine

REPORTS OF RSCHG WEBINARS
  Tyrian Purple: New Ground-Breaking Insights (Zvi Koren)
  New Insights into Lawrence’s Painting Materials and the Genesis of a British Art Masterpiece (Marta Melchiorre)
  The Long Industrial Road to Synthetic Indigo (Matthijs de Keijzer and Maarten van Bommel)
  Michael Faraday’s Chemical History of a Candle (Frank James)

MEMBERS’ PUBLICATIONS

PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST

SOCIETY NEWS

FUTURE CONFERENCES


Contents of Newsletters (1996-2024)

PDFs of Newsletters (2010-2025)

PDFs of Occasional Papers 6-10

Biographies of Chemists including Confusing Names 1-3 from Newsletters 1998-9


Last update 15 January 2025

Return to Royal Society of Chemistry home page.