The Meandering Life of a Research Trajectory: Rare Earths in the Aubervilliers Research Centre (1953–2020) (2021)
Krasnodębski, Marcin (Author)
Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
Volume: 68
Issue: 4
Pages: 385-406
Solvay's Centre de Recherches in Aubervilliers (CRA), north of Paris, has been one of the leading institutions in rare earths research in the world for the last sixty years. In the 1960s and 1970s, its pioneering studies in liquid–liquid separation of rare earths made it possible to obtain a new level of purity of final products, opening the door to a vast number of applications in fields as varied as phosphors (for colour TV sets and trichromatic lamps) or catalysis (for exhaust emission control). Generations of researchers, many of whom were educated by the leading French figures in solid-state chemistry, worked behind the centre's walls creating a unique critical mass of rare earths in the French industrial chemical community. Today, the place of rare earths has dwindled in the centre's overall structure, but the trajectory still lingers on. This paper follows the complex life of the rare earths research trajectory in the CRA and tries to understand the factors that contributed to its evolution.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Teissier, Pierre;
(2010)
Solid-State Chemistry in France: Structures and Dynamics of a Scientific Community since World War II
(/isis/citation/CBB001022659/)
Book
Radder, Hans;
(2010)
The Commodification of Academic Research: Science and the Modern University
(/isis/citation/CBB001033317/)
Book
Bertrams, Kenneth;
Coupain, Nicolas;
Homburg, Ernst;
Hentenryk, G. Kurgan-van;
Mioche, Philippe;
(2013)
Solvay: History of a Multinational Family Firm
(/isis/citation/CBB001202299/)
Book
Ralf Banken;
Raymond G. Stokes;
(2014)
Aus der Luft gewonnen: Die Entwicklung der globalen Gaseindustrie 1880 bis 2012
(/isis/citation/CBB988002372/)
Article
Rankin, William J.;
(2009--2010)
The Epistemology of the Suburbs: Knowledge, Production, and Corporate Laboratory Design
(/isis/citation/CBB001033584/)
Book
Chezeau, Nicole;
(2004)
De la forge au laboratoire: naissance de la métallurgie physique (1860--1914)
(/isis/citation/CBB000771869/)
Article
Kodama, Yoichi;
Fujimura, Shuzo;
(2011)
Technology Diffusion in a Chemical Company: A Case Study on the Development of Surface Protection Tape for Semiconductor Wafer in Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.
(/isis/citation/CBB001220684/)
Book
Kristin A. Wintersteen;
(2021)
The Fishmeal Revolution: The Industrialization of the Humboldt Current Ecosystem
(/isis/citation/CBB521708008/)
Book
Lesch, John E.;
(2000)
The German Chemical Industry in the Twentieth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB000110574/)
Book
Almqvist, Ebbe;
(2002)
History of Industrial Gases
(/isis/citation/CBB000202129/)
Book
Jones, Geoffrey;
(2005)
Renewing Unilever: Transformation and Tradition
(/isis/citation/CBB000773897/)
Chapter
Bugos, Glenn E.;
(2012)
Aerospace in the Rest of California: The View from Silicon Valley
(/isis/citation/CBB001201077/)
Book
Alex Blanchette;
(2020)
Porkopolis: American Animality, Standardized Life, and the Factory Farm
(/isis/citation/CBB310405339/)
Book
Letté, Michel;
(2004)
Henri Le Châtelier (1850--1936) ou la science appliquée à l'industrie
(/isis/citation/CBB000700549/)
Article
Berenji, Jano<s->;
Dahlberg, Jeff;
Sikora, Vladimir;
Latković, Dragana;
(2011)
Origin, History, Morphology, Production, Improvement, and Utilization of Broomcorn [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] in Serbia
(/isis/citation/CBB001320677/)
Article
Jones, Richard A. L.;
(2014)
Reflecting on Public Engagement and Science Policy
(/isis/citation/CBB001420042/)
Article
Evans, James A.;
(2010)
Industry Collaboration, Scientific Sharing, and the Dissemination of Knowledge
(/isis/citation/CBB001034684/)
Chapter
David Baneke;
(2016)
Organizing Space: Dutch Space Science Between Astronomy, Industry, and the Government
(/isis/citation/CBB031148035/)
Chapter
Kneller, Robert;
(2010)
The Changing Governance of Japanese Public Science
(/isis/citation/CBB001420858/)
Article
Jean-Marie Yante;
(2020)
Le secteur pharmaceutique en Belgique au XXe siècle et à l’aube du XXIe siècle
(/isis/citation/CBB668228708/)
Be the first to comment!