Molecules that Matter exhibit

Yesterday evening I visited the Tang Art Museum at Skidmore College, in Saratoga NY to see an exhibit entitled "Molecules that Matter." The exhibit was put together by the Tang in partnership with the Chemical Heritage Foundation of Philadelphia. It examines how our capacity to understand and reshape matter at the atomic and molecular levels has led to innovations in housing and clothing, fuel for our vehicles, cures for disease, and methods for easing physical and mental pain. The exhibit also examines the environmental and social impacts of some of these molecules.

The exhibition explores ten molecules: aspirin, isooctane, penicillin G, nylon 6,6, polyethylene, DNA, progestin, DDT, Prozac, and buckminsterfullerene (also known as buckyball) and carbon nanotubes. Each molecule is associated with one decade of the twentieth century, according to its date of discovery or period of historical impact. A board of ten chemists from higher education, industry, and the Chemical Heritage Foundation selected the molecules, with a final review by two chemistry Nobel Laureates.

Each section of the exhibit has a with large model of the molecule, descriptions of how it was discovered and the people who discovered it, what its impact has been, and some artwork related to that particular molecule. Here are a few of the interesting things I learned:

• Buckminsterfullerene and carbon nanotubes were first synthesized in the 1990's. However, Damascus steel, famous for its quality in swords and which used in middle eastern swordmaking from 1100AD to the 1700's, when the secret of making it was lost, has recently been found to contain carbon nanotubes.

• One example of the type of tragedy that Penicillin has made rare is the death President Coolidge's 16 year old son Calvin. He developed a blister on his toe after a game of tennis on the White House lawn and developed a bacterial infection. A few days later (July 7th, 1924), he was dead.

• Penicillin is named after the paintbrush-like structures in the mold which produces it. It comes from the Latin penicillus - "paintbrush."

The exhibit will be at the Tang until April 13th 2008, and then will move to the Chemical Heritage Foundation of Philadelphia, where it will be on exhibit beginning in August 2008 before touring to the College of Wooster, Baylor University,and Grinnell College.