HIST 16 |
| Phoenician Purples and Biblical Blues were the most royal and sacred of textile dyeings, produced in one of the most complex of biochemical technologies practiced at least three and a half millennia ago. The purple and violet pigments used were produced from the hypobranchial glandular extracts of certain species of Levantine mollusks, such as Murex trunculus. Until recently, scientists were mystified as to how the amazing empirical biochemists of the hoary past were able to perform completely natural chemical dyeings with these water-insoluble pigments. This field of research was particularly close to the late Dr. Sidney Edelstein who, nearly 20 years ago, sponsored the publication of Rabbi Dr. Isaac Halevy Herzog's 1913 doctoral dissertation on "Hebrew Porphyrology", which spurred tremendous interest in this area. This talk will include a number of recent archaeological and chemical discoveries made by the author regarding this purple pigment – truly The Dye of Dyes. |
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Celebrating a Legacy: Fifty Years of the Dexter and Edelstein Awards
9:00 AM-11:55 AM, Monday, 11 September 2006 San Francisco Marriott -- Pacific Room H, Oral
Division of the History of Chemistry |