Contrary to what some might think, given that CHF emphasizes the history of chemistry rather than any other discipline, we do like sociologists. After last year’s wonderful input to the scholarly community by the 2008-09 Haas fellow David Schleifer (whose intricate thoughts on trans fats and the food industry continue to appear in various forms at CHF—let me just mention an upcoming podcast episode and a Chemical Heritage article), we welcome Annalisa Salonius among us this year.

Her account does much more than just reiterate statistics: she uses, among other things, ethnographic methods to see how these research labs fit into their university setting and how they have influenced the way biomedical researchers have been trained in the United States and Canada. Our oral history collections are key to the journey of discovery upon which Annalisa has embarked as our postdoctoral Cain fellow. And she has let me know that she considers the scholarly community at CHF not only fresh, interdisciplinary, and engaging, but also a unique opportunity for her to flex her scholarly muscles.

Annalisa: In The Office

When not curled up in her office with a good oral history, Annalisa likes to explore Philly on foot and taste the delicious food that is around not only during Restaurant Week. Here’s to a delightful fellowship year!

4.30pm: Anticipation at the Ante-Reception

5pm: And the Magic Began!

5.05pm: Nibbles

5.10pm: Hobnobbing in the library

That sign reads: “No Food or Drink in the Gallery Please”—thank goodness the gallery is not the library!

Timeless: Book Display with Past Fellows' Publications

5.50pm: Fellows, Moved by Introductions

This last image was taken when the fellows lined up to introduce themselves (and their research) to the crowd. If you weren’t there, take a peek at the fellows’ pages on the PACHS Web site and our equivalent for the CHF fellows, then move on to the other PACHS member institutions from there. So, kick off your shoes, get some fresh coffee, lean back and be amazed. Be very amazed.

Welcome, Philly Phellows!

Have you ever wondered about all those symbols you find on many food labels, like the “U” and the “K,” which are pretty much ubiquitous on anything from apple pie to zinc supplements? Well, they are two of about a handful of symbols that state the approval of a kosher certification agency. Each agency has its own symbol and its own standards—and its own Rabbinic inspector to make sure that kosher laws are observed in food production. So far, so good. But how did these symbols get there?

While most people will launch into a heartrending rendition of the printing process as it pertains to food labels, and others concentrate on the technicalities of kosher versus non-kosher foods, Roger Horowitz is working on a historical perspective. He will be with us for the full academic year to write his project, a book entitled

 American Kosher:

How Orthodox Jews, Food Companies, and Chemistry Created Modern Kosher Food

. . . and a fascinating tale it is indeed, as we have already seen in his Brown Bag Lunch talk last semester!

Roger Horowitz

Right now this project is progressing behind the closed doors of the third floor at CHF. But otherwise Roger is a rather public figure! When he is not on sabbatical/a fellowship, he is associate director, Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society, at the Hagley Museum and Library. Watch him in action in this recent stint as a TV expert on Fox News (and check out the Hagley blog while you’re at it—marvelous stuff)! So the world has much to learn from Roger Horowitz, our 2009–10 Postdoctoral Cain Fellow. And we are eager to listen.

As for the readers of this blog, Roger has an additional message: he hopes that Brad Lidge finds his pitching form. Looks like our fellows will get on together just fine . . . while the Fearless Fellowship Leader, a sports enthusiast only when it comes to shepherding contests, is curious what she will discover about the fellows who remain to be introduced here.

—to be continued—

Dragons, hermaphrodites, planets, and the odd egg: alchemical imagery has always been mysterious, both to alchemists and to us today. Only the bravest of researchers dare begin a quest toward clarity, clearing a path through the multitude of alchemical sketches, drawings, paintings, engravings, and other depictions that were produced in early modern times. One such scholar, Alexis Smets, has secured CHF’s approval for this daring task and will spend time in our library until the end of October to plow through our early printed books.

From Basil Valentine’s 12 keys, Othmer library. Photo: J.R. Voelkel.

Although Belgian by origin, Alexis is joining us from the University of Nijmegen in The Netherlands, where he is working on a Ph.D. on the topic of “Chemistry, Iconography: Theory of Matter, Images and the Concept of Chemical Images (1560s–1720s)” from a philosopher’s perspective. He is dealing with questions about representation, the nature of translating a concept into an image, and how we can tell from alchemical images how alchemists thought about alchemy. Sounds complicated? Perhaps. But he will present his ideas in a friendly format at his Brown Bag Lunch lecture on 13 October—join us then!

Alexis Smets

When he is not bending over books in the library, Alexis enjoys bending himself into different shapes in yoga class and exploring Philadelphia’s Fringe Festival with one of CHF’s fellows of last year, Hiro Hirai, who is visiting the city at the moment. Two alchemical scholars let loose on the city! If that isn’t a good sign, I don’t know what is!

It was a bright and sunny day (seriously, the Philly weather is gorgeous to the point of perfection these days!) when three new fellows arrived on CHF’s doorstep, bright eyed and bushy tailed (but not at all squirrely, thank goodness!).***

Evan Ragland

One of them, a young researcher from the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University, has made the long trek from Bloomington with a mission: to uncover the story of experimental chymistry in the Low Countries in the 17th century. For the non-expert, that is the history of stinking and banging (especially related to alkalies and acids) in what is now the Netherlands—with some nods to the histories of medicine and Cartesianism. Will Evan Ragland find what he is looking for? Enough with the suspense: he is working in the library already, so things are looking good.

Evan will explain this much better than the current blogger at CHF’s Fellows Reception on 23 September. Meet him there!

By the way Evan is looking forward to catching the World Cup in a nice bar in Philly next year. Who said historians of 17th-century Dutch chymistry did not know how to have fun? Okay, no one said that. Now you know why.

 —

* He does not really: rather, we awarded him the Predoctoral Edelstein Fellowship. Congratulations, and welcome!

** Chymistry is a term for early chemistry, not alchemy or chemistry.

*** Where do the little fellows come from, you ask? They do not arrive by stork, that’s a fact. You may anticipate a more informative entry on this topic sometime in the future, complete with educational and tasteful illustrations.