The Commission on the History of Modern Chemistry (CHMC), inaugurated on 1 January 1998 and now more than 15 years old, is a Commission of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science, Division of History of Science and Technology. Our aim is to promote research on the history of modern chemistry, with particular emphasis on twentieth and twenty-first-century chemistry in its relationship to the biomedical sciences, physics, instrumentation, and technology. The current president of CHMC is Jeffrey Allan Johnson of Villanova University, USA. Information on other leaders and activities of CHMC, as well as contact information and links to other events related to the history of modern chemistry, may be found at our website, http://www.chmcweb.org.

CHMC organises scientific symposia at the International Congresses of the History of Science and, when appropriate, organises or co-sponsors other independent symposia and workshops meeting at other times and places, as well as sessions at other professional conferences. From 1998 to 2012 CHMC was involved in twenty-three professional meetings of these types, resulting (by 2012) in twelve collective publications in the form of books or special issues of journals.

CHMC’s official means of communication, used by historians of chemistry all over the world, is the electronic news bulletin and mailing list CHEM-HIST, which is currently maintained by CHMC’s founding president (now president emeritus), Christoph Meinel at the University of Regensburg, Germany.

CHMC maintains contacts with other scholarly associations, societies, and institutions devoted to the history of chemistry or to the history of science and technology. It co-operates with other DHST Commissions and Scientific Sections.

CHMC seeks to encourage other initiatives in the historiography of modern chemistry, including efforts to preserve sources and artefacts as well as sites for the history of modern chemistry.

CHMC has no formal membership or dues. Everyone – regardless of gender, religion, nationality, or political views – with a scholarly or professional interest in the history of chemistry who communicates and co-operates within the Commission is considered a member and is welcome to participate in CHMC activities. We seek to promote the interaction of the broadest possible range of interdisciplinary perspectives, in keeping with the global and interdisciplinary nature of modern chemistry.