Science stories 
 to reflect on the history of science and our own. By Pedro Gomez-Romero
 
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Great Old News

Old science news are a great introduction to the history of science. 

We begin this section with a centennial celebration.
 

Aspirin Centennial Celebrated
          LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) March 6 1999
          Bayer AG celebrated the 100th anniversary of its wonder drug  -aspirin- Saturday by turning its company headquarters into the world's largest pillbox.
           Using 242,190 square feet of cloth, hung from scaffolding by 50 mountain climbers, Bayer turned the 400 foot tall building into a giant Bayer aspirin carton. Bayer spokesman Heiner Springer said he hoped to get the event listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
           The giant package, visible for miles around, is to remain up for two weeks before the cloth is taken down and turned into shopping bags.
           Springer declined to say what the project cost. ``Certainly less than 1 percent of annual aspirin sales,'' he joked.
           Bayer last year sold $555 million worth of aspirin worldwide.

           On Aug. 10, 1897, a young Bayer researcher, Felix Hoffman, first synthesized acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin's active ingredient. Saturday's celebration marked the 100th anniversary of the day the name ``aspirin'' was first registered as a trademark at the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin, on March 6, 1899.
 
 
 
 


Dr. Pedro Gomez-Romero (b. Almansa, Spain) (B.S., M.S. Univ. Valencia, Spain) (PhD Chemistry, Georgetown University, USA) is a scientist at the Materials Science Institute of Barcelona, Spain, where he works in the field of solid state chemistry, materials for rechargeable lithium batteries and related topics. Member of the American Asociation for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society and the Electrochemical Societypedro.gomez@icmab.es  

You are welcome to visit my page on RESEARCH TOPICS AND SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS  

 
 
 Questions & comments to sciencematters@geocities.com |  Last modified: 15 April 1999
©Pedro Gómez-Romero, 1998,1999    
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