Objects from more than 70 years of chemistry research and teaching are on display at the Academy Gallery.
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The University of Tasmania has a huge collection of instruments, implements, and glassware, UTAS chemist Murray Frith said, archived and sitting in storage.
He and co-curator Krystel Woolley have selected the most interesting objects for an exhibition titled Our World: a scientific exploration, running from August 12 - September 13.
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"It's a range of apparatus that has been stored in the chemistry dungeon, for want of a better word - the chemistry storeroom," he said.
"Chemistry has changed a lot.
"We used to do everything with glassware, and now that's become less and less involved."
Some items were made by a company that ceased operations in 1949, so he knows they date back to at least then.
"A lot of this stuff that we have here is pre-1949, so it's pretty old, and was used by chemists then," he said.
"We really do have an impressive amount in the collection, and we really need to dig it out and clean it up and put it on show."
Mr Frith used some of the instruments when he was a student at the University, including a spectroscope, used for identifying the components of an element, and a rotary evaporator, used to evaporate solvents.
"Although a lot of this stuff is before my time," he laughed.