The Chemistry of Instruments. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Mass Spectrometry in Chemical Research, 1950-1980

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During the three decades following World War II, the widespreadintroduction of physical instrumentation led to a dramatictransformation of chemical research. As we also the case withphysicists and molecular biologists, chemists adopted novelforms of organization and deeply expanded the scale and scopeof their own research capabilities. Research chemists,instrument manufacturers, chemical firms, and governmentagencies formed a web of close interconnections an alliancesthat enhanced the transfer of instruments and techniques acrossdisciplinar boundaries. In thes process, chemists activelyadapted phaysical techniques to the needs and conditions oftheir experimental culture. While building favorable social andintellectual environments, they created the ’chemistry ofinstruments’. As a result, high-technology instrumentationbecame both the sine qua non for chemical research and thesingle most important symbol of its outward reach. Drawingextensively on case studies based on American science, thisstudy brings the history of modern chemistry on a par withhistorical work on big science in physics and biology duringthe second half of the twentieth century.