De Historische Groep van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Chemische Vereniging kiest jaarlijks een locatie die het predicaat ‘Nationaal Chemisch Erfgoed’ mag dragen. In 2020 werd als derde historische plek museum en sterrenwacht Sonnenborgh in Utrecht aangewezen. Hier bevond zich eind 17e eeuw het ‘Laboratorium chimicum’ van Johann Conrad Barchusen, het oudste scheikundelaboratorium van Nederland waarvan resten bewaard bleven.

The Utrecht University professor of Chemistry, Ernst Cohen (1869-1944) gave lectures illustrated with an optical lantern between at least 1899 and 1938. His presentations addressed different audiences, from colleagues at chemical conventions to members of societal and professional associations and audiences at adult education centres. The range of topics he covered was equally broad: from lectures on the use of photography in the sciences to chemical issues and entertaining presentations on caricature and the natural sciences. Cohen used the projected image for a variety of purposes that were linked to his outreach activities as an academic who wanted to address audiences both inside and outside academia. This contribution retraces Cohen’s activities as a lecturer using the lantern to reach diverse audiences and discusses the topics that he chose for his illustrated lectures.

Ernst Julius Cohen (1869-1944) fue un destacado químico e historiador de la química holandés de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX y la primera mitad del siglo XX. Contribuyó a los campos del polimorfismo, termoquímica, electroquímica y piezoquímica. También estudió isomería física. Sus estudios experimentales sobre alotropía se han publicado en un gran número de publicaciones. El propósito de este artículo es familiarizar a los lectores con los acontecimientos importantes en la vida de Cohen y sus actividades de investigación, en particular con sus publicaciones seleccionadas, así como con sus actividades de escritura, en particular con sus libros

Aantekeningen in zijn onverwacht opgedoken schoolboek uit 1896 laten zien dat de latere Maastrichtse Nobelprijswinnaar Peter Debye al jong gegrepen was door de fysische chemie. Het boek is het natuurkundeboek voor de hbs dat Nobelprijswinnaar Peter Debye (1884-1966) rond 1900 als scholier in Maastricht doorwerkte en van aantekeningen voorzag. De Delftse fysicus prof. Pieter Kruit, schonk het in Tsjechië opgedoken boek onlangs aan het Debye Instituut voor Nanowetenschap in Utrecht.

Interview met J.Th.G. Overbeek.

The exponential growth of the number of scientists working at universities after World War II poses a challenge in terms of saving the past. In order for future historians to reconstruct and write about developments in the sciences of the last seven decades, it is crucial to have access to at least a substantial volume of hardcopy and digital archives. Unfortunately, most of the 'evidence' usually disappears into the physical and digital dustbins. This paper illustrates that a rich story may be recovered from preserved scribbled notes, minutes, letters and reports. The archive of physical chemist J.Th.G. [Theo] Overbeek (1911-2007) was donated by his family to his old department at the University of Utrecht. In 1946, Overbeek succeeded his predecessor Hugo R. Kruyt (1882-1959), who was an internationally renowned colloid chemist. In the early 1930s, Kruyt had also been instrumental in founding the Dutch organisation for applied sciences (TNO) and in the years immediately after the war he became its President. In 1923, Kruyt wrote a booklet as an introduction to physical chemistry which was later revised in several editions by Overbeek. The book was set literature for students of biology, medicine, dentistry and veterinary science for many decades; the final, 19th, edition was published in 1977. This paper discusses the general state of chemical research and education at the University of Utrecht in the 20th century. In particular, however, it reconstructs Overbeek's impact on the growth of the discipline of chemistry in Utrecht, as well as the 'hybridizing' of chemistry and biology when these disciplines moved into new laboratories at the University of UtrechtÕs campus De Uithof. The building was opened in 1974 and named Transitorium III. It was Overbeek who inspired the decision to locate the traditional disciplines in the peripheral parts of the building and the new interdiscipline of molecular biology at the centre. In 1992 the building was renamed the Hugo R. Kruyt building, which many saw as a fitting commemorative tribute to a prominent colloid chemist and physical chemist. Archival material shows that Overbeek's dedication speech at the presentation of a plaquette of Kruyt in the entrance hall of the building that now bore his name, on 28 October 1992, emphasised Kruyt's role in bringing academia and society together. The science park of the University of Utrecht at De Uithof is an expression of this pursuit. His successor also promoted this interaction, but Overbeek should also be remembered as a driving force in the 'hybridization' of chemistry and biology into molecular biology. Colloid and physical chemistry were instrumental in this artificial fertilisation, regardless of how difficult this amalgation proved to be.