Making the Vortex Mixer

The forgotten story of an invention found in every biology lab.

This essay will appear in our forthcoming book, “Making the Modern Laboratory,” to be published later this year. In 1959, a pair of enterprising brothers, Jack and Harold Kraft, filed a patent titled “Apparatus for mixing fluent material.” Though simple in concept, their invention solved one of the most fundamental challenges faced by mid-century scientists: mixing fluids quickly and efficiently. The vortex mixer, a small motorized device that vibrated samples, offered the perfect solution, and is now found on biology benches across the world. Harold and Jack Kraft were born in New York in…

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• Seth Howes

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