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What do glassblowing and chemistry labs have in common? Glassblowers custom-build apparatus, using skill, precision and scientific expertise.
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in western Germany boasts its own glassblowing workshop. Glassblower Daniela Einhardt and her colleague create and repair custom laboratory equipment by shaping glass at temperatures of nearly 2,000 degrees Celsius. The workshop supplies tailor-made apparatuses for researchers, especially chemists, who often require unique experimental setups not available commercially. The work is extremely precise and so close collaboration between scientists and glassblowers is important. The glassblowers also need to have a good knowledge of chemistry so that they can fulfill the researchers’ needs. The highly skilled craft plays a vital role in scientific research – and cannot be done by machines.