Month: November 2025
-
Imhotep: Humanity’s great physician and polymath
Brian O’DeaIllinois, United States Imhotep is regarded as one of history’s first polymaths, a man whose genius transcended disciplines. Few figures in the ancient world stand as tall as Imhotep. As vizier to the pharaoh Djoser of the third dynasty (c. 27th century BC), he envisioned the first major stone monument, the step pyramid at…
-
Why did Shakespeare never mention tobacco?
Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States Tobacco was used in Elizabethan England to treat diseases and injuries, as well as for relaxation and social interactions. Why, then, did Shakespeare never mention tobacco in any of his plays, or even refer to its use? Tobacco grew only in the Americas before Columbus’ voyages. When Europeans first arrived…
-
A magnificent late seventeenth-century German pharmacy cabinet
Christopher DuffinLondon, England Small, portable apothecary cabinets were once popular for household, travel, and campaign purposes, but few have survived from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Several are exhibited in German museums,1 including one spectacular example in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Münich. The cabinet represents a fusion of artistic media. The goldsmith was Joseph Herterich…
-
A brief history of fluorescein
Vidhi NaikAberdeen, Scotland Fluorescein, a strikingly bright orange-yellow liquid, is an essential tool in ophthalmic practice. Its synthesis marked a pivotal moment in the intersection of chemistry and medicine. Created by Adolf von Baeyer, a Nobel prizewinning chemist, in 1871, fluorescein originated as a product of industrial organic chemistry but soon became central to ophthalmic…