Career patterns in the British chemical profession in the twentieth century

Abstract

This paper uses material on the careers of chemists in the twentieth century from the ‘Studies of the British Chemical Community, 1880-1970’ project to place the experiences of chemists in the context of this dynamic new research area. The paper highlights the way that the values associated with a traditional professional ‘ideal type’ of the independent practitioner were retained despite a marked shift to salaried employment during the twentieth century. Career mobility amongst chemists was underpinned by these values and by the transferability of their core skills