A cylindrical glass container with a pouring lip, used in laboratories for mixing and measuring liquids.
From Old Norse 'bikarr,' meaning drinking cup, related to Greek 'bikos' (wine jar). Originally referred to a drinking vessel; the scientific usage developed in the 17th century as chemistry emerged as a formal discipline requiring specialized glassware.
The humble beaker represents the evolution of drinking vessels into scientific instruments, maintaining its basic cup shape while gaining precise measurement markings. Interestingly, archaeological 'Beaker cultures' are named after their distinctive pottery drinking vessels, showing how this simple container shape has been crucial to human civilization for millennia.
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