We’re getting into the Halloween spirit by spotlighting some of our spookiest, eeriest, and weirdest science stories. You can start with a Distillations article about magical essential oils, followed by a blog post about the horrors of technological obsolescence. Don’t be afraid to explore some of the creepy items in our digital collections, including a book about poisons, an illustration of a skeleton, and a vampire-approved bleeding bowl from the 1700s. And if we had to guess who Dracula would most enjoy reading about, we are positive it would be blood plasma pioneer Charles Richard Drew, the African American doctor known as the “father of the blood bank.” | |
Fellows have access to our Othmer Library and can explore such titles as Princess & Fairy, or The Wonders of Nature, which features this illustration of a spider, 1899. 📷 Science History Institute | |
All events are free and take place online or at the Science History Institute at 315 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia unless otherwise noted. | |
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Friday, November 3, 2023
5pm–8pm ET
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Our November First Friday features dozens of researchers from local universities who will present their innovative projects and answer your questions live. Want to know what really happens in a laboratory? Want to meet scientists doing cutting-edge research in physics, medicine, biochemistry, and more? Then let’s Start Talking Science! First Fridays are free and open to the public. Attendees will receive a 10% discount to National Mechanics restaurant. | |
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Saturdays
November 4, 11, 18, 2023
10am–5pm ET
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Join us in our museum EVERY SATURDAY for Stories of Science, a family-friendly program that highlights the many strange and surprising stories from the history of science! Our fun, interactive activities are designed for science lovers of all ages. Admission is free and reservations are not required. | |
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Saturday, November 4, 2023
2pm ET
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Join our museum’s Gallery Guides for a “drop-in” Women in Chemistry Tour highlighting the central role of women in shaping chemistry and the material sciences throughout history. Admission is free and no reservations are necessary. | |
Engraving depicting the sun and stars behind “the spirit and the soul” standing on a mountain, from the 1678 edition of Musaeum Hermeticum [Hermetic Library]. 📷 Science History Institute | |
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Tuesdays, November 7–28, 2023
10am–11am ET
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The Science History Institute has teamed up with online learning platform Roundtable by the 92nd Street Y, New York to offer you compelling courses from the history of science. This four-part course features James R. Voelkel, the Institute’s curator of rare books, who will cover the period in astronomy surrounding Copernicus’s proposal that the earth revolves around the sun. The course is free, but registration is required. | |
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Thursday, November 16, 2023
5:30pm–8pm ET
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Nobel laureate and Cornell professor emeritus Roald Hoffmann kicks off our new Science and Society speaker series with an untold story of science and immigration. Join us in person or online to hear how he came to know and appreciate these two remarkable Chinese scientists while reflecting on his own experiences as an immigrant. In-person attendees can join us at 5:30pm for a curator’s tour of Migrating Science: Stories of Immigration and Innovation and for a reception with Hoffmann after the event. | |
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Friday, November 17, 2023
7pm–8pm ET
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This free online Varsity Tutors class examines a lesser-known story: the evolution of women’s healthcare from the 1800s through today. We’ll look inside a doctor’s visit from the 1840s; examine healthcare tools of the mid-19th century; and meet some of the doctors, inventors, writers, and activists that shaped the early medical industry and explore their impact on women’s health activism a century later. | |
Orange dye color swatches from Standard Color Card of America issued by the Textile Color Card Association of the United States, 1916. 📷 Science History Institute | |
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Saturday, November 18, 2023
2pm ET
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Join our museum’s Gallery Guides for a Dyes & Textiles “drop-in” tour highlighting the remarkable scientific properties of natural dyes and textiles, the technology behind synthetic clothing, and the impact of fashion on human health and the environment. Admission is free and reservations are not required. | |
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Thursday, November 30, 2023
5–7pm ET
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Join us in person or online for our hybrid November JPS talk featuring Drexel Engineering professor Yury Gogotsi who will discuss the multitude of applications offered by MXenes, the fastest growing family of nanomaterials. JPS talks are free, but registration is required. | |
Seven of spades from a deck of playing cards issued by the Kinney Tobacco Company, 1889. 📷 Metropolitan Museum of Art | |
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The Disappearing Spoon Podcast
The British Tobacco Empire
He was behind the rise of the British Empire, a public-health epidemic, and the lost colony of Roanoke Island. Thomas Harriot has a lot to answer for.
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The Disappearing Spoon Podcast
If Indiana Jones Were a Swindler
James Mellaart discovered one of the most important archaeological sites ever. But his lust for treasure led him to lose it all.
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Distillations Podcast
Exploring ‘Health Equity Tourism’
With a new public interest in health equity research, who is actually receiving recognition and funding in the field?
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Lamiae Piscis Caput [The Shark’s Head], engraving from Metallotheca: Opus Posthumum, a posthumous work on mineralogy and paleontology, 1717. 📷 Science History Institute | |
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The Science History Institute Digital Collections house more than 13,150 curated items, including rare and modern books, scientific instruments, letters, photographs, advertisements, videos, oral histories, and more:
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Gallus, engraving of a very strange rooster with a serpentine tail from Mundus Subterraneus: In XII Libros Digestus [The Subterranean World: Divided into 12 Books], 1665
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Leech Jar, earthenware domed jar used to store medicinal leeches, ca. 1950
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Oral History: Vishva Dixit, interview with the Genentech executive and cancer researcher who discusses patients who believe in witchcraft, 2022
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Bleeding Bowl, brass bowl used by physicians to collect blood from patients during bloodletting, 1752. 📷 Science History Institute | |
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Charles Richard Drew
Hailed as the “father of the blood bank,” Charles Richard Drew (1904–1950) is best known for his lifesaving innovations in the use and preservation of blood plasma. He was the first African American to earn a doctorate in medical science from Columbia University and was appointed the director of the first American Red Cross blood bank in 1941. An outspoken critic of racial discrimination, Drew protested against the practice of segregation in blood donation, resigning from his position at the Red Cross, which up until 1950 did not accept blood from Black donors.
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The Science History Institute Museum is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Admission is free.
Hach Gallery
Horiba Exhibit Hall
Building Façade
Museum Mezzanine
du Pont Gallery
du Pont Lobby
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We’ve got good bones! Help us flesh out new and inspiring stories behind the science by making a Halloween gift. | |
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