Bowen's Kale

A jar of Bowen's Kale, in the collection of the Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford, England.[1]

Produced by Humphry Bowen, the reference material called Bowen's Kale was used for the calibration of early scientific instruments intended to measure trace elements in the 1960s.[2]

With Peter Cawse, Bowen grew, dried and crushed a large amount of marrow-stem kale[3] (Brassica oleracea var. medullosa) into 100 kg of a homogeneous and stable powder in 1960 that was subsequently freely distributed to researchers around the world for over two decades. This was probably the first successful example of such a de facto standard.[4] It stimulated preparation of further materials by other organizations for similar use.

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