The Alchemy of Us How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another Ainissa Ramirez In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez examines eight inventions-clocks, steel rails, copper communication cables, photographic film, light bulbs, hard disks, scientific labware, and silicon chips-to reveal how they shaped the human experience. Ramirez tells the fascinating and inspiring stories of how our pursuit of precision in timepieces changed how we sleep; how the necessary brevity of the telegram influenced Hemingway's writing style; and how a young chemist exposed the use of Polaroid cameras to create passbooks to track black citizens in apartheid South Africa. Filling in the gaps left by other books about technology, Ramirez showcases little-known inventors-particularly people of color and women-who had a significant impact but whose accomplishments have been hidden by mythmaking, bias, and convention. Doing so, she shows us the power of telling inclusive stories about technology. Ainissa Ramirez is a materials scientist and sought-after public speaker and science communicator. A graduate of Brown and Stanford, she has worked as a research scientist at Bell Labs and held academic positions at Yale University and MIT. She has written for Time, Scientific American, the American Scientist, and Forbes, and makes regular appearances on PBS's SciTech Now. Book jacket.