13 and 14 May, the SHAC Postgrad Workshop will take place.

This two-day virtual workshop follows the (al)chemical sciences beyond their traditional laboratory remit (which has long been a productive object of historical inquiry) and focuses instead on less archetypal locations of chemical substance and practice: mines, libraries, courtrooms, ecosystems, hospitals, domestic spaces, classrooms, and so forth. What happens to our understanding of alchemy, chemistry, and (al)chemical practitioners once we highlight these (secondary) spaces? How might key insights from laboratory studies, such as the attention to apparatus and other chemical materialities, inform historical work on alchemy and chemistry once they exit laboratory walls? How have chemical practitioners adjudicated the boundary between laboratory and not-laboratory at different times and places, with what consequences for the discipline and its participants?

For the programme and to register, please click here.

On Friday 6 May 2022 SHAC will be joining with the Faculty of the History and Philosophy of Medicine and Pharmacy of the Society of Apothecaries to mark the 350^th anniversary of the opening of a laboratory at Apothecaries’ Hall. The meeting will take place in the splendid surroundings of Apothecaries’ Hall, London and speakers include Anna Marie Roos, Patrick Wallis, Peter Elmer and Anna Simmons. There will also be archive talks, tours, and a drinks reception.

For the full programme, including details of the call for posters on laboratories and medicine (deadline 11 March 2022) and booking details please see here.

The Winter issue of Chemical Intelligence is now out! As always, there is a lot of news for you, about upcoming events (virtual or otherwise), awards, projects, and much more!

You can find the issue here.

SHAC invites proposal for its 13th annual postgraduate workshop “Chemistry Outside the Laboratory” which will take place on 13 and 14 May, 2022.

We welcome proposals for short, 15-minute virtual talks by graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and other early career scholars.

The deadline for submissions is February 1, 2022.

More info can be found here.

A new issue of Chemical Intelligence is now available online! It has lots of interesting reports and articles, including reports on past events, wonderful news about the Science History Institute, updates about SHAC’s prizes, an overview of recent publications in Ambix, and more!

For a nice summer read on our wonderful area of research, check out the latest issue here.

The Faculty of History & Philosophy of Medicine & Pharmacy is organising a Symposium to mark the 200th anniversary of quinine and other botanicals. The symposium will take place on 6 May, from 10:00am-4:15pm and will be followed by virtual drinks.

Topics include herbal medicines, Quinine, cannabis flowers and more!

More information, and the programme, can be found here

To mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Tom Wedgwood on 14 May 1771, the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry and the Royal Photographic Society have organised a virtual meeting on the afternoons of 14 and 15 May 2021, starting at 2pm BST (3pm CEST, 9am EDT). 

Tom Wedgwood, fifth child of the midlands potter Josiah Wedgwood, is now best remembered for his 1802 paper in which he outlined a chemical method of creating an image. By the middle of the nineteenth century this had become widely recognised as major precursor to the development of photography in the 1830s. But Wedgwood’s short life (he died aged 34 in 1805) encompassed much more. A member of the loosely defined radical romantic movement, he associated with such major figures at William Godwin, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Beddoes, Humphry Davy and many others.  

The speakers who will discuss these and other aspects of his life and work, as well as his enduring legacy as a founder of photography, are the current Tom Wedgwood, Geoffrey Batchen (keynote), Lucy Lead, Michael Gray, Brian Dolan, Tim Fulford, Catrin Jones, Michael Pritchard and Rose Teanby. 

The full programme and registration details can be found at https://rps.org/wedgwood250