The Bunsen-Kirchhoff Spectroscope. A short time ago, while walking through the rows of stalls at the Arezzo antiques fair, held every first Sunday of the month, I noticed on the table of one of the many stalls, the barely perceptible golden reflection of a Bunsen spectroscope, almost submerged by knick-knacks of every kind. It was a long and tiring negotiation …

Heinrich Kiliani’s discoveries on the chemistry of sugars.   This first article on sugars in this blog is dedicated to the work done by  Heinrich Kiliani (1855 –1945), a German chemist. He began studying chemistry in 1873 by enrolling at the Technische Hochschule in Munich. He had Emil Erlenmeye as a chemistry teacher, who appreciated him so much that he …

Louis Pasteur was a great chemist. I met this personality, really interesting, on the occasion of a research I did at the time on the birth of Stereochemistry. Pasteur is known as a scientist in the fields of biology and medicine, but his beginnings were in the fields of crystallography and chemistry. In fact, he started with an academic preparation …

The Birth of Stereochemistry. Rain of crystals: I kept an old barrel in the cellar of my house for many years before deciding to make wood for the fireplace. Its interior walls, in the dimly lit cellar, seemed to be covered with a blackish, amorphous deposit. But when I took it outside and it was illuminated by sunlight, I felt …

Jean Beguin’s first chemical equation. The slow process of differentiation, separation of chemical practice from that complex body of philosophical and scientific knowledge that goes by the name of alchemy, began in the 17th century. The field of application and development of chemistry was medicine. The main aim was the search for new drugs, especially of inorganic origin. Minerals were …

Laboratory experiments on the phenomenon of combustion. In the 2010-2011 school year, among the chemistry laboratory exercises performed by the students, one was dedicated to the study of the phenomenon of combustion. Among the reports submitted by the students I chose one in particular. I present it below in PDF format. Reading it is not only instructive but also very …

The exploration of the western fjords of Norway. The following presentation contains the images of a multi-stage journey between the western and south-western fjords of Norway by bus but above all by boat. Pictures come from: From the Sognefjord fjord. It is the longest fjord in Norway, extending for 204 km, it is characterized by unspoiled nature, mountains and waterfalls. …

The village of Flam in the Sognerfjord fjord. One of the most beautiful excursions that can be done in the fjords of Norway is the one that has the pretty little village of Flam as its epicenter. It sits at the top of the Aurlandsfjorden branch of the great Sognerfjord. The country can be reached by boat from the beautiful …

Many places of worship. I did not imagine that Japan possessed such a large number of religious testimonies. In the big cities dozens of temples scattered among the many neighborhoods, open to worship, each with its garden and its small cemetery of tombstones and volcanic stone stems accompany us on walks to discover the life of the city. Elderly ladies …

The Liebig’s Institute of Chemistry in Giessen After a visit to the Liebig Museum of Giessen in Germany, I decided to put the images and videos I made on my site, together with the information I found in the Museum’s publications, but above all that I gathered from my expert guide, such as Prof Manfred Kroeger who accompanied us during …