Tuesday, February 1, 2011

'Chemistry: Our Life, Our Future - The Nobel Chemistry Prizes 1901-2010' exhibition in Athens

A unique international exhibition titled "Chemistry: Our Life, Our Future - The Nobel Chemistry Prizes 1901-2010" opens Tuesday evening at the National Research Foundation in central Athens, organised by the Museum of the Hellenic Nobel Collection under the auspices of President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias.

    Described by
international media as "a unique opportunity for the global scientific and cultural projection of Greece", the exhibition is organised in the context of the 2011 International Year of Chemistry.

    Rare objects of research, unpublished documents, photographs, diaries, books and other items from Alfred Nobel’s (1833-1896) Chemistry Products Factory in the Italian town of Avigliana will be presented for the first time in Greece (at the National Research Foundation, 48 Vassileos Constantinou Avenue, Athens) and in Italy (Avigliana municipality, Turin, on the 150th anniversary of the Republic of Italy 1861-2011).

    All the items of both Exhibitions belong to the Museum of the Hellenic Nobel Collection, the result of 20 years of methodical work and research throughout the world.

    A rare Collection of precision scales used by Alfred Nobel in Avigliana for his chemistry experiments (1870-1895), the invention of dynamite (1866) and tens of other patents, will be on display for the first time, and only in Athens.

    Also on display, in both exhibitions, is a unique collection of photographs from the Avigliana laboratory, which belonged to the personal collection of the German emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941), later a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Museum of the Hellenic Nobel Collection discovered Kaiser Wilhelm’s II photography Collection in Argentina and acquired it in 2000.

    On display for the first time to the Greek public are:

    1) Stamps: Special editions and commemorative envelopes of postal services on Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Chemistry laureates of the 20th century.
    2) Rare commemorative medals of Alfred Nobel and the 20th century Nobel Chemistry laureates.
    3) Research objects from Alfred Nobel’s laboratory at the Avigliana factory.
    4) Original British patents and explanatory drawings, color and black & white lithographs of Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Chemistry laureates of the 20th century.
    5) Rare photographs with the signature of the Nobel Chemistry laureates of the 20th century.

    The exhibition is prologued by 12 Nobel Chemistry laureates, and will be on display through March 12.



  source: ANA-MPA