Laboratory notebooks belonging to James Lovelock whilst working at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London, UK, dated 1 March 1948 to August 1950. Labelled JEL Physical; Program. Describes handkerchief experiments, ionization anemometers, circuit invention etc. Manuscript; pencil and pen. Two loose graphs. Poor condition. Measurements open horizontally 400 mm (w).

Scientist and inventor James Lovelock’s notebooks from when he worked at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) mention experiments ranging from the use of handkerchiefs to the invention of the argon detector. The experiments with handkerchiefs that you can see in this notebook explored how we catch colds. These experiments illustrate the range of problems Lovelock worked on during his time at the NIMR.