Robert Anderson, former director of the British Museum, is named the interim president of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. He is the current vice chair of the board of directors of CHF and has been involved with the organization for many years. Anderson replaces Carsten Reinhardt, who has been president and CEO of the organization since 2013.
Anderson has wide-ranging interests in the history of chemistry, including the history of scientific instrumentation, the work of Joseph Black and Joseph Priestley, the history of museums and the involvement of the working class in material culture, according to CHF. He was previously the director of the British Museum, London, where he presided over the creation of the £110 million Great Court; the keeper of chemistry at the Science Museum, London; and the director of the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Anderson is a recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Paul Bunge Prize, which he was awarded in 2016 for a lifetime of "outstanding achievement in writing about and promoting the understanding of historic scientific instruments," according to CHF.
Reinhardt is returning to his native Germany, where he will be a professor in the history of science at the University of Bielefeld. He will also codirect the program on the history of the Max Planck Society at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, according to CHF. Reinhardt was recently elected a member of the German National Academy of Sciences, the Leopoldina.
For more information, visit: www.chemheritage.org
