Date: November 20, 2008 at 12 noon
Speaker: Penny Le Couteur
Title: The Evolution of Colour: How Dye Molecules Changed the World
Description: Did you know that the dye alizarin (Turkey Red) was probably responsible for Alexander the Great’s 320 B.C. defeat of the Persian Army, that a German dye company (Bayer) was the first to recognize the possibility of commercial pharmaceuticals and that the rare and expensive Tyrian Purple dye is chemically very, very similar to the widespread and widely used
dye, indigo? This presentation discusses the surprising influences of natural and synthetic dyes on our culture, our history and our lives as seen through the eyes of a chemist.
