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A New Science, And A New Profession: Sugar Chemistry In Louisiana, 1885-1895, John Alfred Heitmann
A New Science, And A New Profession: Sugar Chemistry In Louisiana, 1885-1895, John Alfred Heitmann
John A. Heitmann
Between 1885 and 1895 the Louisiana sugar industry experienced a scientific and technological revolution in methods, process apparatus, and scale of operations. The animal-powered mills and open kettles characteristic of the antebellum period were supplanted by large, technically designed, and scientifically controlled central factories . In 1880 there were approximately 1,000 sugar houses in Louisiana with an average annual production of 110 long tons of sugar per house. By 1900 fewer than 300 factories constituted the state's sugar industry, but yearly production averaged over 980 long tons for each sugar house. One commentator of the period, Mark Twain, described a …
Friedrich Wöhler, John Alfred Heitmann
Friedrich Wöhler, John Alfred Heitmann
John A. Heitmann
Friedrich Wöhler synthesized urea in 1828 and thus first demonstrated that organic materials, heretofore believed to possess a vital force, need not be made exclusively within living organisms. He also isolated aluminum metal in 1827 and discovered the elements beryllium and yttrium.
Doing 'True Science': The Early History Of The 'Institutum Divi Thomae,' 1935-1951, John Alfred Heitmann
Doing 'True Science': The Early History Of The 'Institutum Divi Thomae,' 1935-1951, John Alfred Heitmann
John A. Heitmann
This essay focuses on the origins and early history of the Institutum Divi Thomae (hereafter referred to as the IDT or Institutum), thus describing one particularly rich episode illustrating the relationship between American Catholicism and science during the middle of the twentieth century. The IDT was established by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1935; its faculty and students, while working in the area of cancer research, published hundreds of scientific and technical papers, developed a number of commercial products, and received considerable publicity in both the religious and secular press during the first two decades of its existence. However, with …