Still searching for that perfect Christmas present for the Chemist in your life? Out of ideas for what to get your lab mates?
ChemistryViews and Journal Editors recommend Christmas presents with a scientific flavor …
FOOD AND DRINK
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Wine with Label Showing Winemaking Formulae
Know a chemist who is also a wine conniseur? Check out the Educated Guess Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, complete with label depicting the formulae that govern the winemaking process
Meghan Campbell, Angewandte Chemie
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Scientific Cookie Cutters
Why not encourage your lab mates bring cookies shaped like test tubes, flasks, beakers, or atoms to the next group meeting?
Stephen Honer, Angewandte Chemie
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Molecular Cuisine Starter Kit
Never have the similarities between cooking and chemistry been so clear as with this introduction to molecular gastronomy
Rachel McGlue, Chemistry – A European Journal
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Table-top Distillery
Like a modern-day alchemist, transform wine into brandy and beer into whiskey with this minature distillery
Saskia Neubacher, ChemistryOpen
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Beer Steins made from Dewar Flasks
For the beer-loving chemist, these steins of science make the perfect gift!
Lesley Belfit, Book Department, Wiley-VCH
PERIODIC TABLES AND GAMES
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Periodic Table Playing Cards
Double deck of playing cards with all 118 elements – perfect for studying or for a quick game of Solitare
Matteo Cavalleri, International Journal of Quantum Chemistry
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Ornamental Display Cubes Containing your Favorite Element
The ideal gift for the chemist who has everything: Periodic element samples beautifully presented in acrylic cubes. Also available: complete set of noble gases in ampules
Sarah Millar, ChemistryViews.org
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Chemundo – The Card Game from the World of Chemistry
Test your knowledge of chemistry with this fun game – Match related compounds to get rid of your cards, but pick up cards if you incorrectly name the compound on the card!
Vera Köster, ChemistryViews.org
CLOTHES
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I Speak IUPAC T-Shirt
This and other chemistry-themed t-shirts are available here and here
Sarah Millar, ChemistryViews.org
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Badge: Omg – The Element of Surprise
One of the lesser-known elements
Lesley Belfit, Book Department, Wiley-VCH
HOME AND OFFICE
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Niels Bohr Calendar 2013
Celebrate the 100th anniversary of Niels Bohr’s atomic model with this calendar of select historical photos from Bohr’s career
Matteo Cavalleri, International Journal of Quantum Chemistry
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Mouse Mat with Functional Group Structures and Names
Functional and functional – this mouse mat is the ideal gift for organic chemists or anyone who wants all the functional groups at their fingertips
Richard Threlfall, Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry,
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Attractive Journal Storage Solutions
Looking for somewhere to store all those old copies of Angewandte Chemie? These lever arch and box files cunningly disguise all your paperwork as vintage books
Sarah Millar, ChemistryViews.org
BOOKS
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Itch — Simon Mayo
Meet Itch, full name Itchingham Lofte – an accidental, accident-prone hero. Itch is a fourteen-year-old element-hunter: he’s decided to collect all the elements in the periodic table. Which has some interesting and rather destructive results in his bedroom.
Then, Itch makes a discovery. A new element, never seen before. At first no one believes him, but soon, someone hears about the strange new rock and wants it for himself. And Itch is in serious danger …
Exciting and entertaining reading for younger chemists.
Sarah Millar, ChemistryViews.org
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Great Inventions that Changed the World — James Wei
Discover the inventions that have made our world what it is today
A great invention opens the door to a new era in human history. From the stone axe to the computer and the Internet, this book provides a fascinating tour of the most important inventions and inventors throughout history. You’ll discover the landmark achievements and the men and women that made the world what it is today.
Eva Wille, VP Global Chemistry, Wiley-VCH
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Europe to the Stars — Govert Schilling, Lars Lindberg Christensen
Produced especially for European Southern Observatory’s 50th anniversary, this sumptuously illustrated book takes the reader behind the scenes of the most productive ground-based observatory in the world. It contains the best 300 of ESO’s images, hand-picked from a large collection of more than 100,000 images.
Lois O’Leary, ChemCatChem
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Skios — Michael Frayn
On the sunlit Greek island of Skios, the Fred Toppler Foundation’s annual lecture is to be given by Dr Norman Wilfred, the world-famous authority on the scientific organisation of science. He turns out to be surprisingly young and charming – not at all the intimidating figure they had been expecting. The Foundation’s guests are soon eating out of his hand. So, even sooner, is Nikki, the attractive and efficient organiser.
Meanwhile, in a remote villa at the other end of the island, Nikki’s old school-friend Georgie waits for the notorious chancer she has rashly agreed to go on holiday with, and who has only too characteristically failed to turn up. Trapped in the villa with her, by an unfortunate chain of misadventure, is a balding old gent called Dr Norman Wilfred, who has lost his whereabouts, his luggage, his temper and increasingly all normal sense of reality – everything he possesses apart from the flyblown text of a well-travelled lecture on the scientific organisation of science …
Eva Wille, VP Global Chemistry, Wiley-VCH
- See previous years’ suggestions for scientific Christmas gifts
- Please feel free to add your own ideas as comments
