Scents accompany us every day: they communicate, carry culture, spark memories, and elicit emotions. But how did people first start to extract fragrances from plants and animals? What makes the scent of whales and certain even-toed ungulates popular to this day? And what role did the “lord of the (carbon) rings,” better known as ETH Zurich Nobel laureate Leopold Ruzicka, play in this story? The Chemical and Pharmacognostic Collection of D‑CHAB provides answers.
Julia Ecker
Colorful Chemistry: A. J.-Trümpy’s fabric samples as an online catalog
“Clothes make the man,” says a famous proverb by Gottfried Keller, but few know chemistry’s role here. Adolf Jenny-Trümpy’s colorful fabric sample books from the 18th and 20th centuries provide a vivid demonstration. Available for the first time as an online catalog, the volumes provide a virtual insight into the fine art of textile dyeing and reveal sophisticated chemical compounds, valuable cow dung, useful insects, and fabric prints that transformed Switzerland into a textile powerhouse.