  Every partial algebra is the colimit of its total subalgebras. We prove this
result for partial Boolean algebras (including orthomodular lattices) and the
new notion of partial C*-algebras (including noncommutative C*-algebras), and
variations such as partial complete Boolean algebras and partial AW*-algebras.
The first two results are related by taking projections. As corollaries we find
extensions of Stone duality and Gelfand duality. Finally, we investigate the
extent to which the Bohrification construction, that works on partial
C*-algebras, is functorial.
