OVERVIEW
What most people call to mind when thinking of science in the 20th century is physics and biology -- events like the development of atomic weapons and the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA, of evolution on trial in the Scopes case in 1925, of equations such as e=mc2. Chemistry is perhaps physic's and biology's less glamorous sibling. But knowledge about chemical substances was moving along at a fast pace, whether it was in terms of the physiology of vitamins, or research into hormones, the increasing awareness of chemical poisons throughout the food system and as industrial hazards, the development of materials such as plastics, the creation of chemical weapons such as mustard gas, and the birth of forensic science. In many ways chemistry was the most pervasive form of everyday encounters with science, and it came to symbolize both the processes of life and of death (as with the creation of the 'mad scientist' image).

INTRODUCTIONS TO LEARNING MATERIALS
The reading in our core text provides content and analysis that you will use to build your knowledge base, and that will serve as the basis for your reflective essay that is due at the end of the week. The videos provide background information and context for the lesson and serve as source material for the essay and your pocket exhibit project The questions for your reflective essay are designed to prompt you to assess the material and determine what you find to be most significant and to explain why. The Pocket Exhibit Project allows you to use historical skills to interpret primary source materials, and to create an online site to communicate your research findings.

LIST OF READINGS AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Reading Assignment:

Read Ede & Cormack, Chapters 9 and 10 [these are the basis for Essay #3 due on Friday June 26]

Watch this video:

"Chemical Weapons in World War 1" Encyclopedia Britannica [5 min]
The Poison Squad [PBS, 2020 / 2 hours]

Read these articles

Look at these three web resources

“Chemistry and Forensic Science in America ”: Timeline
"Sherlock Holmes’ Victorian Era Science and Technology," Exhibit at the South Carolina State Museum (February 2020)

Assignments:

Post your Primary Source Analysis #3 by 11:59 p.m. on Monday June 22
Read your group's posts as a repository to use to craft your self-reflection paragraph for Primary Source Analysis #3 (due Tuesday June 23)