History of Chemistry and the Internet

One of the most significant changes in research and teaching of our subject since the appearance of Recent Developments in the History of Chemistry has been the emergence and explosive growth of the world wide web and the internet. For making scholars aware of what is available in traditional repositories such as libraries and 

The most immediate impact of the world wide web has been to make available catalogues of libraries and archives of major academic and other institutions. Thus precious, and still essential, research trips to facilities distant from a scholar can be well planned and efficiently executed. As national and international digitization projects112 come to fruition over the next decade, the experience of engaging with collections is likely to change considerably as it will become possible for materials to travel to scholars rather than essential for scholars to travel to all materials. Already, many journals in the field have online as well as paper versions, while some journals are now available only online. 

An efficient way to locate internet resources is to use gateway websites. In the early days of the world wide web, these tended to be compiled by enthusiastic 

Finally, the potential of the internet for encouraging discussion of the history of chemistry should be mentioned. Several of the groups listed above help to support an e-mail-discussion list that is open to anyone interested in the subject. 

CHEMHIST132 is an international electronic forum and news bulletin set up to carry information and discussion related to the history of chemistry and chemical industry. Founded in 1997, it soon became the official messenger of the IUHPS/DHS Commission on the History of Modem Chemistry (CHMC). 

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