The guys behind the science

The LATimes has a nice article about a person who you probably never heard of, in a job you probably didn't know existed:

A scientific glass blower at CalTech who helps devise flasks etc. so the scientist can do their thing.

“It allows students and Rick to just brainstorm about what's possible,” said Jonas Peters, an inorganic chemist whose lab is filled with Gerhart’s elaborate glass coils, diffusion pumps and vacuum systems. “If it doesn't work, you go back, he changes something, you try it again. There’s this iterative process of trying to make an apparatus that works for an experiment in a way that's very custom and very interactive.”

His name is Rick Gerhart, and he helps make glass apparatus for experiments.

more HERE.

Photo credit AP

so why use a glassblower when you can just buy one from a supply store?

  Machines aren't likely to replace glassblowers, given the fragile nature of glass and the precision with which it must be handled. There's also little need for mass production since much of the equipment works with only one experiment, Gerhart said.