The Material Culture of British Pharmaceutical Laboratories in the Golden Age of Drug Discovery (c. 1935–75)

Abstract

At a time when pharmaceuticals were becoming one of the most successful science-based sectors in Britain and the British pharmaceutical industry was beginning to rank among the world's most innovative, c. 1945–1975, physical methods and electronic instrumentation revolutionised structural organic chemistry. Their introduction is described in three companies (Burroughs Wellcome Co., Glaxo, and Imperial Chemical Industries); when, how and why British pharmaceutical laboratories adopted these methods is examined. The impact they had on pharmaceutical innovation at that time is explored, and what this tells us about and, in turn, what can we learn from the material culture of British pharmaceutical laboratories in the Golden Age of Drug Discovery is discussed.