Category Archives: News

SHAC Spring Meeting CfP – Deadline extended!

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We have extended the CFP deadline for the Spring Meeting to 10th of March. The original call is attached below. Hope this will encourage more of you to submit!

(Original Call below:).

SHAC Spring Meeting – Call For Papers

The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC) invites abstract submissions for its Annual Spring Meeting, to be held at the University of Oxford (Maison Francaise d’Oxford) on 28 May 2024. The meeting will be hybrid, although we strongly encourage in person attendance.

The keynote speaker is Prof. Jennifer M. Rampling (Princeton).

The theme is ‘From Late Antique to Early Modern Alchemy: New Approaches, New Horizons’. Under this broad remit, we encourage submissions that explore:

·                     New methodologies and approaches to the study of alchemy / chymistry

·                     Interdisciplinary perspectives setting alchemy / chymistry in dialogue with other fields of learned or craft knowledge

·                     Case studies of individuals, groups, or institutions pursuing alchemy / chymistry in conjunction with other fields of knowledge

·                     The material, visual, and experimental cultures of alchemy / chymistry

·                     Diverse sites of alchemical / chymical practice

The submissions can be individual presentations, panels with 3 speakers or roundtable proposals. Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes in length.

Please submit your abstract, together with a CV or a paragraph detailing your background, to: georgiana.hedesan [AT] history.ox.ac.uk by 1 March 2024.

Upcoming Post Graduate Conference (Saturday, 13th January 2024)

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Here’s somewhat short notice about the upcoming Post Graduate Conference and, by the way the next SHAC on line seminar will be on Thursday 18th January 2024, not in 2025 as recently advised!

The SHAC PG Conference, Uncovering the Secrets of the Universe, will be held this Saturday (13th January 2024) coming from St John’s College, Oxford.

It can be accessed via Zoom.

Programme:

Welcome and Introduction: 11.00 – 11.15 

Session 1: 11.15 – 12.30 

  • Josh Werrett, University of Oxford 

imitatio Christi and the Aesthetics of Martyrdom in The Visions of Zosimos of Panopolis 

  • Yusuf Tayara, University of Oxford 

Towards a Literary Heresiology: Esotericism, Language, and Reason in the Work of al-Safadi 

  • Diego Gorini, University of Salento / University of Cologne 

“Rotam Rotare”: The Wheel as an Instrument of the Scientific Investigation of Nature in the Pseudo-Lullian Alchemical Works. 

Lunch: 12.30 – 13.30 

Session 2: 13.30 – 14.45 

  • Sergei Zotov, University of Warwick 

Toads, Feathers, Horseshoes, and The Seven-Footed King: Recent Developments in the Study of The Ripley Scrolls 

  • Ellen Hausner, University of Oxford 

Angels, Magic, and the Philosophers’ Stone: The Manuscripts of a Sixteenth-Century Physician 

  • Maddie Reynolds, University of Edinburgh 

‘Heavenly alchemy’: Material Culture and the Divine Cosmos in John Dee’s Apocalyptic World 

Break: 14.45 – 15.00 

Session 3: 15.00 – 16.00 

  • Elena Morgana, University of Oxford 

William Yworth’s Alkahest: Alchemical Philosophy in the 18th Century 

  • Leonardo Anatrini, University of Florence 

From Ether to God (and Everything in Between): On the Alchemical Philosophy and Laboratory Practice of François Jollivet-Castelot 

Break: 16.00 – 16.15 

Keynote Lecture: 16.15 – 16.45 

  • Frank James, University College London 

Bringing the Universe Together: The Field Theory of Michael Faraday 

Closing Remarks: 16.45 – 17.00 SHAC Conference 

Partington Prize winning essay “Senses and Utility in the New Chemistry” is published Open Access!

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The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry is delighted to announce that Armel Cornu’s Partington Prize winning essay “Senses and Utility in the New Chemistry” is published Open Access in the November 2023 issue of Ambix.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00026980.2023.2265681?src=

The winner

Armel Cornu is a postdoctoral researcher funded by the Swedish Research Council and based at the University of Uppsala in Sweden and the ICT department in Paris. She obtained her doctorate at the University of Uppsala in 2022 with a dissertation titled: “Enlightening Water: Science, Market & Regulation of Mineral Waters in Eighteenth-century France,” before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her research is characterised by a social and economic approach to the development of chemistry throughout the Enlightenment.

The Partington Prize

The Partington Prize was established in memory of Professor James Riddick Partington, the Society’s first Chairman. It is awarded every three years for an original and unpublished essay on any aspect of the history of alchemy or chemistry. The prize consists of five hundred pounds (£500). The competition is open to anyone with a scholarly interest in the history of alchemy or chemistry who, has not reached thirty-five years of age, or if older is enrolled in a degree programme or has been awarded a master’s degree or PhD within the previous three years. Previous prize-winning essays can be viewed at: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/yamb20/collections/best-paper-partington-prize

New feature: Set “new content” alerts for Ambix!

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Starting now, new content alerts are available for Ambix. In order to achieve this, you simply have to visit tandfonline.com/yamb, click on “new content alerts” and register for free. That way, you never miss any brand new Ambix content.

How to set a new content alert for Ambix

Summer 2023 issue of Chemical Intelligence

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The summer 2023 issue of Chemical Intelligence, edited by Karoliina Pukkinen, is now available online for members to enjoy:

Chemical_Intelligence Summer2023Download

Summer 2023 is a bumper issue, including reports on the International Conference on the History of Chemistry in Vilnius and the Oxford Seminars in the History of Alchemy and Chemistry. There is information about recent and forthcoming Ambix issues, details of the next webinar and various news items and features on the history of alchemy and chemistry.  We hope you will enjoy the issue and also think about joining us at our next in-person meeting in November. Details below. Many thanks to Karoliina for bringing together so much material on what is happening in our field!

SHAC Autumn Meeting – Saturday 25 November 2023 in London

SHAC’s autumn meeting will explore the theme “Alchemy and Chemistry in the Long Eighteenth Century”. It will take place in London on 25 November 2023, most likely at UCL. Please send offers of papers to Frank James, frank.james@ucl.ac.uk by 15 September 2023.

Best wishes,

Carolyn

Dr Carolyn Cobbold

SHAC Membership Secretary

New Royal Society Publishing history of science platform 

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Royal Society Publishing recently launched a new history of science platform. 

Science in the making that allows free access to digitised versions of over 30,000 archival items related to the publication of our journals from the past 400+ years.   

This is an extremely important and ambitious digitisation programme that presents the complex material that lies behind the published articles including reviews by Darwin, doodles by Newton, astronomical observations, electrical experiments, anatomical illustrations and more, drawing from every branch of science.