This essay will appear in our forthcoming book, “Making the Modern Laboratory,” to be published this summer.

By Spencer Wright

It was a revolutionary idea in the 1830s, and it remains one today — virtually anyone can learn to make their own scientific equipment. With a few dollars’ worth of glass tubing, a flame, and a little practice, you can create all kinds of chemical analysis kits. Because the glass itself is airtight, you can control which chemicals go in, and because it’s clear, you can observe what happens to those chemicals as you manipulate them.…