This year, the Society launches Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry, a new series of supplements to Ambix. These will offer critical editions and English translations of important works in the history of chemistry, including works composed in Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin. These editions will showcase the best and most up-to-date scholarship on early chemical writings, offering new insight into the origins of alchemy, chemistry and chemical technology. To mark the occasion, the SHAC Spring Meeting explored new work in these fields, using sources that are not yet available in modern editions.

The Meeting took place on the 16 March between 12.30 and 17.30 at Richard Eden Room, Gillian Beer House, Clare Hall (West Court site), Cambridge. The programme is outlined below:

Programme

12.30 – 13:00 Registration and Refreshments

13:00 – 13:30 Introduction: Prof Lawrence M. Principe (Johns Hopkins University), ‘Early Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry’

13.30 – 15:00 Panel 1: Alchemy in the Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Arabic Worlds

• Dr Matteo Martelli (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), ‘Zosimus and the First Book of Alchemy’
• Dr Gabriele Ferrario (Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, Cambridge University Library), ‘Judaeo-Arabic alchemy in the Cairo Genizah’

Chair: Dr Cristina Viano (CNRS, Paris)

15.00 – 15.30 Coffee Break

15:30 – 17:00 Panel 2:Sources of Latin Alchemy

• Dr Sébastien Moureau (Université catholique de Louvain), ‘Elixir and Ferment, Alchemy and Medicine: the Link between Pseudo-Avicenna’s De anima, Roger Bacon, and Pseudo-Aristotle’s Secretum secretorum‘
• Dr Jennifer Rampling (University of Cambridge), ‘Plotting the Future of Medieval Alchemy’

• Chair: Prof Charles Burnett (Warburg Institute)

17.00 – 17:30 Roundtable discussion

The Colloquium was organized by Jennifer Rampling (University of Cambridge) and Professor Lawrence Principe (Johns Hopkins University) on behalf of SHAC. With support from the British Society for the History of Science and the Charles Singleton Center for the Study of Pre-Modern Europe.

Download the programme in PDF format here.

We will publish a report on the Workshop in our next issue of Chemical Intelligence.