2025-08-04

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Chemistry in a Nutshell

Why is lab safety important? A respected chemistry professor's death from dimethylmercury poisoning shook the scientific world. Just two drops of organic mercury penetrated her gloves, changing the way we think about lab safety forever. Learn what happened, what it revealed about the limitations of standard lab gloves, fume hoods, and chemistry lab safety research. This chemical disaster reshaped how labs around the world protect researchers, and it still saves lives today.

0:00 Who Was Dr. Karen Wetterhahn?

0:49 The Spill: 2 Drops

1:19 The Invisible Neurotoxin

2:29 Why Gloves Didn’t Protect Her

4:04 Symptoms Begin to Appear

5:24 Treatment Attempts: Chelation Fails

6:32 Hair Analysis Reveals the Truth

6:58 Her Death Changed Lab Safety Forever

8:04 Her Legacy in Every Lab Today

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Citations:

https://www.science.org/content/article/mercury-poisoning-kills-lab-chemist

https://sites.dartmouth.edu/toxmetal/about-us/a-tribute-to-karen-wetterhahn/

https://cen.acs.org/safety/lab-safety/25-years-Karen-Wetterhahn-died-dimethylmercury-poisoning/100/i21

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn

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