What makes Stradivari violins so good? “One scientist thinks he has finally solved the mystery, and he gives the credit not to famed maker Antonio Stradivari but to a nameless 18th Century drugstore chemist from a small town in Italy. Joseph Nagyvary, an emeritus professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Texas A&M University, said several things set a Strad apart, but none more so than the chemicals that hardened the wood and gave each instrument its fiery appearance.”