---
title: "History of chemistry"
chunk: 20/20
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:59:28.102404+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The later part of the nineteenth century saw a huge increase in the exploitation of petroleum extracted from the earth for the production of a host of chemicals and largely replaced the use of whale oil, coal tar and naval stores used previously. Large-scale production and refinement of petroleum provided feedstocks for liquid fuels such as gasoline and diesel, solvents, lubricants, asphalt, waxes, and for the production of many of the common materials of the modern world, such as synthetic fibers, plastics, paints, detergents, pharmaceuticals, adhesives and ammonia as fertilizer and for other uses. Many of these required new catalysts and the utilization of chemical engineering for their cost-effective production.
In the mid-twentieth century, control of the electronic structure of semiconductor materials was made precise by the creation of large ingots of extremely pure single crystals of silicon and germanium. Accurate control of their chemical composition by doping with other elements made the production of the solid state transistor in 1951 and made possible the production of tiny integrated circuits for use in electronic devices, especially computers.

== See also ==

=== Histories and timelines ===

=== Notable chemists ===
listed chronologically:

== Notes ==

== References ==
Selected classic papers from the history of chemistry
Biographies of Chemists Archived 2017-07-08 at the Wayback Machine
CHEM-HIST: International Mailing List for the History of Chemistry
Eric R. Scerri, The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance, Oxford University Press, 2006.

== Further reading ==
Ana Maria Alfonso-Goldfarb et al., eds (2015). Crossing Oceans: Exchange of Products, Instruments, Procedures and Ideas in the History of Chemistry and Related Sciences, Coleção CLE/UNICAMP, volume 75.
Morris, Peter J. T.; Rocke, Alan, eds. (2022). A Cultural History of Chemistry. Volumes 1–6. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781474294928.
Beretta, Marco, ed. (2022). A Cultural History Of Chemistry in Antiquity (Volume 1). London: Bloomsbury. doi:10.5040/9781474203746. ISBN 978-1-4742-9453-9.
Jensen, William B (2006). "Textbooks and the future of the history of chemistry as an academic discipline". Bulletin for the History of Chemistry. 3: 1–8. doi:10.70359/bhc2006v031p001.
Multhauf, Robert P. (1966). The Origins of Chemistry. London: Oldbourne. OCLC 977570829.
Partington, James R. (1961–1964). A History of Chemistry. London: Macmillan. OCLC 1149250811. (four volumes)
Principe, Lawrence M. (2013). The Secrets of Alchemy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226103792. (general overview of the history of alchemy and chemistry, with a focus on the relationship between the two; written in a highly accessible style)
Rampling, Jennifer M (2017). "The Future of the History of Chemistry". Ambix. 64 (4): 295–300. doi:10.1080/00026980.2017.1434970. PMID 29448901.
Rampling, Jennifer M. (2020). The Experimental Fire: Inventing English Alchemy, 1300-1700. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226826547.
Documentaries
BBC (2010). Chemistry: A Volatile History.

== External links ==

ChemisLab – Chemists of the Past
SHAC: Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry