Vacuum Chambers, Pumps, Gauges, and Systems

We often think of scientists as working directly with their experimental materials. The image of the chemist staring upward into the beaker is, after all, one of the most pervasive icons of the scientist. Yet in many fields, experimental materials (and the conditions necessary for their existence) are a threat to scientists, and/or scientists (and the conditions necessary for their existence) are a threat to experimental materials. In such cases, scientists must essentially build remote laboratories - micro-environments in which they can only interact with their materials at a distance. Vacuum is one of the oldest and most important such micro-environments in the history of laboratory science.