The Equipment that Helped Win Nobel Prizes

We've often seen the people who win Nobel Prizes, but how about the lab equipment they used to make their discoveries? Among its collections, the Chemical Heritage Foundation has an archive of photos showing various lab instruments critical to major discoveries. 

Check out the Nobel Prize collection to see examples such as the one below, which is a piece of equipment that Smalley, Curl, and Kroto to earn the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “their discovery of fullerenes.” More specifically, it's an actuator for the team's AP2 Supersonic Laser Vaporization Cluster-Beam Apparatus.

You can also view a much larger collection of vintage scientific instruments that you're sure to find fascinating.

Image: Chemical Heriage Foundation