Steven C. Turner, National Museum of American History
Chemical Heritage Foundation, Brown Bag Lecture
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation
Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org
James Smithson has historically been regarded as a second-tier scientific figure, and the impact of his work has been thought to be minimal. However, when considered in a broader historical context his work takes on a new significance. Smithson’s investigation of the zinc ore “calamine” is a good case in point. Here Smithson was working on a long-standing English metallurgical problem, but his work had unintended consequences for Napoleonic France.
Steven C. Turner is a curator of physical sciences at the National Museum of American History. He is currently researching the scientific work of James Smithson, founder of the Smithsonian Institution. As part of that project Turner is replicating Smithson’s experiments with the tools and techniques of a late 18th century chemical laboratory.