The Science History Institute is an institution that preserves and promotes understanding of the history of science. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it includes a library, museum, archive, research center and conference center.
It was founded in 1982 as a joint venture of the American Chemical Society and the University of Pennsylvania, as the Center for the History of Chemistry (CHOC). The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) became a co-founder in 1984. It was renamed the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) in 1992, and moved two years later to the institution's current location, 315 Chestnut Street in Old City.
On December 1, 2015, CHF merged with the Life Sciences Foundation, creating an organization that covers "the history of the life sciences and biotechnology together with the history of the chemical sciences and engineering." As of February 1, 2018, the organization was renamed the Science History Institute, to reflect its wider range of historical interests, from chemical sciences and engineering to the life sciences and biotechnology.
The institute focuses on the history of chemistry, the history of science, the history of technology, trends in research and development, the impact of science on society, and relationships between science and art. It supports a community of research scholars and an oral history program. As of 2012, it was the largest U.S. grantor of research fellowships for the history of science.
History
The idea of creating "a library of reference and a chemical museum" in the United States can be found in the Proceedings of the first meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 1876.
The idea of a Science History Institute dates to 1976, when the nation's bicentennial and the ACS' centennial stimulated interest in history and chemistry. As part of the ACS centennial activities, John H. Wotiz of its history-of-chemistry division organized a session on the history of chemistry; he was a strong proponent of a national center for historical chemistry.
Center for the History of Chemistry
In 1979, the ACS formed a task force chaired by Ned D. Heindel to look at creating a national center for the history of chemistry. Arnold Thackray, a professor in the Department of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania, and curator of the Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection on the history of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, argued for the formation of such a center in Philadelphia. Thackray obtained promises of private support from chemist John C. Haas and institutional support from the Dow Chemical Company and DuPont. In December 1981, the ACS approved the establishment of the Center for the History of Chemistry, with support of $50,000 per year for five years, in cooperation with the University of Pennsylvania, which was to provide an equivalent in goods and services. An agreement to create the Center for the History of Chemistry was signed by officers of the American Chemical Society and the University of Pennsylvania on January 22 and 26, 1982. A policy council was appointed by the sponsoring institutions to oversee routine operations of the center, and Arnold Thackray was appointed part-time director of the center on April 29, 1982. The center was inaugurated on March 11, 1983, in several vacant basement rooms on the University of Pennsylvania campus. Its "immediate aims" included gathering oral histories of important chemists and inventorying papers and manuscripts in repositories throughout the country to map "the largely unexplored territory of the history of chemistry and chemical technology."
A National Advisory Board was also formed from a wide-ranging group of people in academia and industry. In 1982, its members included John C. Haas, historians Margaret W. Rossiter and Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. and at least three Nobel Prize winners, Christian B. Anfinsen, Herbert C. Brown, and Glenn T. Seaborg. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) became a co-founder of the center, signing an agreement on August 27 and 28, 1984. In addition, the institution began to establish relationships with affiliated organizations such as The Chemists' Club, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists, the Electrochemical Society and the American Society for Mass Spectrometry.