Detail of Styron: The RIGHT Plastic, a Dow Chemical Company advertisement for plastic toys that boasts how playful Dad will be, 1947. 📷 Science History Institute
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If you’re still looking for that perfect Father’s Day gift, we highly recommend a trip to our museum, which will reopen on July 1. Our curators have been busy refreshing our exhibits and can’t wait to see you and your dad in person. In the meantime you can read about Bob Gore, the inventor of Gore-Tex, and how the story of the revolutionary waterproof fabric began with his father, Bill. Your dad will also be happy to know that the Institute has been awarded a National Archives grant to digitize the oral histories of immigrant scientists and that this week’s Scientist Spotlight features Charles Richard Drew, the barrier-breaking African American doctor known as the “father of the blood bank.”
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Nobel laureate Roald Hoffmann is one of the project’s featured immigrant scientists. 📷 Agencji Gazeta/Maciej Zienkiewicz
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The Science History Institute is proud to announce that it is the recipient of a $132,875 grant from the National Archives for the project “Science, War, and Exile: Oral Histories of Immigration and Innovation.” Awarded through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the grant is part of the NHPRC’s efforts to improve public access to historical records.
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Wednesday, June 16, 2021
1:00 p.m.–1:45 p.m. EDT
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Postdoctoral fellow Eleanor Armstrong presents our final virtual Lunchtime Lecture of the season. Armstrong will explore some of the entanglements between humanity’s engagement in outer space and the terrestrial environments in which they take place.
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Monday, August 16, 2021–Thursday, August 19, 2021
10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. EDT
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Presented by the Center for Oral History, this online workshop will introduce attendees to all aspects of the interview process, including general oral history theory and methodology, in-person and remote interviewing techniques, legal and ethical issues, transcription practices, archiving, recording equipment and its use, data management, and other relevant topics.
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Bob and Bill Gore with homemade camping equipment, 1948. 📷 Courtesy of W. L. Gore and Associates
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Gore-Tex changed the way Americans spend time outdoors.
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Chemist Max Bredig’s race to save family and friends from catastrophe.
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Father Knows Best
After you visit our museum, you and your dad can spend some more quality time together browsing our digital collections, which include a vast array of rare books, photos, and advertisements:
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Charles Drew in the lab at Howard University, 1942. 📷 Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905–1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
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Hailed as the “father of the blood bank,” Charles Richard Drew (1904–1950) is best known for his lifesaving innovations in the use and preservation of blood plasma. He was the first African American to earn a doctorate in medical science from Columbia University and was appointed the director of the first American Red Cross blood bank in 1941. An outspoken critic of racial discrimination, Drew protested against the practice of segregation in blood donation, resigning from his position at the Red Cross, which up until 1950 did not accept blood from Black donors.
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Now more than ever it’s important to tell the stories of science. Help us continue this work by supporting the Science History Institute.
You can also support the Institute while shopping on Amazon at smile.amazon.com.
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