3 ms·
Almost none of the important stuff. I own most of the books on scientific glassblowing, and they're pretty much all outdated and primarily occupied with inform
by msds 8y ago
Almost none of the important stuff. I own most of the books on scientific glassblowing, and they're pretty much all outdated and primarily occupied with information about apparatus design. If you're interested in calculations for distillation columns, designs for multi-stage mercury vapor diffusion pumps, and formulas for silvering glass, the books are great. Otherwise, not so much.
The rest of the knowledge seems to be passed person-to-person, mostly in informal settings. There's a decent program at Salem community college, but it's just too short to become a fully-capable scientific glassblower. That takes about 10 years of full time apprenticeship, which is why the field is dying out.
I've (briefly) studied with some extremely talented glassblowers (Sally Prasch, ...), and I found that helpful, but also most of the learning came from staying up to 1AM trying to replicate something that took them 5 minutes to demonstrate...
- js2 8y ago> it's just too short to become a fully-capable scientific glassblower. That takes about 10 years of full time apprenticeship, which is why the field is dying out. What a shame to lose collective knowledge. Is there no demand for it any more? What’s being used in labs now if not hand blown glass?
- msds 8y agoThe shift away from each institution having a full-time glassblower doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of science being done in hand-blown glass. There are still lots of companies that can produce fancy glassware, and the Chinese glass industry has flourished. For 99% of science, off-the-shelf stuff is totally adequate. However, the capacity for repairing and modifying glassware is going away. It used to be the case that your average chemist could go walk down the hall and talk to a glassblower about designing crazy custom apparatus - not so much anymore. Even when an institution does have a glassblower, they tend to be nearing retirement age, and hiring someone who has the broad talent required is very hard...