Making modernity View a slide show Download wallpaper Send an e-card

10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Monday–Friday
Masao Horiba Exhibit Hall

Admission is free. Get visitor information.

Making Modernity will show you how chemistry has touched all our lives—frequently in unexpected ways.  Visitors can trace scientific progress in the laboratory, the factory, and their homes and learn how chemistry created and continues to shape the modern world.

Drawn from CHF's world-class collections, Making Modernity includes scientific instruments and apparatus, rare books, fine art, and the personal papers of prominent scientists. Topics range from alchemy, synthetics, and the chemical-instrument revolution to chemistry education, electrochemistry, chemistry sets, and the science of color. 

No matter how much or how little you know about chemistry, Making Modernity will give you a new perspective on the everyday objects around you.

What’s in the picture?
Throughout 2008, we are featuring kaleidoscopes that are composed of objects in Making Modernity. The modern things: They may seem unrelated, but these objects—billiard balls, nylon dresses, computer chips, stills, and radios, and many more—are all signs of the achievements of the chemical and molecular sciences.

• View the slide show to discover the role chemistry has played in making our lives modern.
• View the previous kaleidoscope to learn about how chemistry helps create beautiful and useful things.

Additional information and resources

• Sign up for our mailing list. Stay informed of events and happenings related to CHF's exhibitions.
• Learn about the major donors who made Making Modernity and the museum at CHF possible.
• Let us know you support us. Make a contribution to CHF’s annual fund.

This exhibition is made possible by the generous support of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation.

How did we do this?
Meet the curators of Making Modernity.