The 2016 Oxford Seminar in the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will take place at the Maison Francaise d’Oxford (2-10 Norham Rd, OX2 6SE) between 3pm-5pm on the following Wednesdays. The seminar is free of charge, and anyone with an interest in the history of alchemy, chemistry, medicine or the sciences is invited to attend. The format is two papers followed by a Questions & Answers session. Participants are also invited to join us for a drink afterwards, and/or dinner with the speakers.

Wednesday 25 May, Approaches to the History of Chemistry

Chair: John Christie (Oxford)

John Perkins (Oxford Brookes) – ‘Situating Chemistry: an On-line Database for the History of Chemistry and Alchemy’

Mat Paskins (Leeds) – ‘Dyeing Out: Unsettling Scientific Stories of Colour Chemistry in Twentieth Century Britain.’

Wednesday 1 June, Nineteenth-Century Chemistry and the Arts

Chair: John Perkins (Oxford Brookes)

Thea Goldring (Oxford) – ‘Chevreul, Brongniart and the Chemistry behind the Nineteenth-Century Stained Glass Debates.’

Julia Carr-Trebelhorn (Oxford) – ‘Miscible Media:  The Integration of Natural History and the Arts in the work of Alexandre Brongniart’

Wednesday 8 June, Early Modern Alchemy

Chair: Georgiana Hedesan (Oxford)

Hilde Norrgren (Oslo) – ‘The offices of numbers: Quantification of alchemy in John Dee’s Monas Hieroglyphica (1564)’

Sietske Fransen (Cambridge) – ‘The Vocabulary of J.B. van Helmont’s Recipes’

For any questions regarding the seminars please contact Dr Georgiana Hedesan:
georgianahedesan [AT] yahoo.com