Welcome to the Website of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC), publisher of the scholarly journal Ambix.
Founded in 1935, SHAC has consistently maintained the highest standards of scholarship in all aspects of the history of alchemy and chemistry from early times to the present. The Society has a wide international membership from over thirty countries.
We hold meetings and webinars, offer scholarly prizes and grants, and publish the journal Ambix. The Society’s newsletter, Chemical Intelligence, is published twice a year. We have also established the Graduate Network to bring together postgraduate students in the field.
Keep up to date with the news and events of SHAC by following us on Facebook and Twitter.
You can watch our SHAC Online Seminars on YouTube here.
Please note that changes are processed manually and you will receive a confirmation email when our records have been updated. For any queries please find relevant contact information on https://www.ambix.org/contact-us/
We were sorry to have to postpone the on-line seminar two weeks ago due to technical difficulty. These have now been resolved and the seminar has been rescheduled to 25th April.
The next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Professor Robert Fox (University of Oxford) who will present:
Thomas Garnett: Science, medicine, mobility in eighteenth-century Britain
This will be live on Thursday, 25th April 2024, beginning at 5.00pm British Summer Time (1 hour ahead of GMT). The format will be a talk of 20-30 minutes, followed by a moderated discussion of half an hour.
As with recent seminars the Zoom link can be freely accessed by anyone, member of SHAC or not, by booking through the following Ticket Source link:
The seminar will be also accessible live on YouTube
There are two other items that members of SHAC may find of interest.
The first is a call for papers for the History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Mérida, Mexico, 7-10 November 2024
Multidisciplinary approaches to the history of chemistry
Proposed session for History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Mérida, Mexico, 7-10 November 2024; co-sponsored by the HSS Forum on History of Chemistry, the Commission on the History of Chemistry and the Molecular Sciences and the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry.
The aim of the proposed session is to bring historians and practitioners of these multidisciplinary approaches to the history of chemistry together to contrast their results and methods, and to promote a multidisciplinary dialogue for the sake of the history of chemistry. We are, in particular, interested in addressing the following questions:
What specific questions can be resolved by the multidisciplinary approaches to the history of chemistry and which cannot?
What is the role of formal models in historiographical narratives?
What is the appropriate coarse-graining level for the history of chemistry, and to what extent can this level be addressed by different disciplines?
Can multidisciplinary approaches help link macrohistory with microhistory?
What formal models are most suitable for historiographical research?
What are the disciplinary challenges posed by the history of chemistry?
We invite scholars and researchers to submit abstracts addressing any of the aforementioned topics or related areas within the history of chemistry. Submissions may include empirical studies, theoretical frameworks, methodological advancements, or interdisciplinary perspectives. We encourage innovative approaches and welcome contributions from both established academics and early-career researchers.
If you are interested in participating in this session, please send your name, affiliation, email address and the topic of your presentation to Guillermo Restrepo (restrepo@mis.mpg.de) by 8 April 2024. At a later date, organizers will request a title and an abstract, but they are not needed at this stage.
The second is notification of the forthcoming 9th EuChemS Chemistry Congress (ECC-9), to be held in Dublin, Ireland, from 7th – 11th July, 2024.
The 9th EuChemS Chemistry Congress will have an exciting scientific programme with world-leading plenary speakers, invited speakers and short oral presentations, supplemented with a series of poster presentations, focused around eight scientific themes:
· Advances in Synthetic Organic Chemistry
· Catalysis
· Chemistry Meets Biology For Health
· Education, History, Cultural Heritage, and Ethics in Chemistry
· Energy, Environment and Sustainability
· Nanochemistry/Materials
· Physical, Analytical and Computational Chemistry /AI)
· Supramolecular Chemistry
· The programme will feature dedicated sessions organised by the EuChemS European Young Chemists´ Network of EuChemS (EYCN) and the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland (ICI)
The Oxford Seminar this year will be running three sessions, each consisting of two papers. The session dates and times are Weds May 22nd, May 29th, and June 5th 3pm-5pm, Salon at the Maison Française d’Oxford, Norham Rd, Oxford. Each session has two speakers, who will deliver papers of 30-40 minutes, leaving 20-30 minutes for questions and discussion.
WEDS MAY 22ND: Substance and Identity: Histoires Petites et Grandes John R.R. Christie (Oxford): ‘A salt sui generis’: Chemical Analyses of Scarborough Spa Waters, 1734 Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent (Paris): Why a Biography of Carbon?
WEDS MAY 29th: Meissen Coloration and Pacific Chemical Medicine Nicholas Zumbulyadis (Delaware): Chymistry and Art at the Cusp of the 17th and 18th centuries Mariana Sanchez (Paris): Distillation in the Phillipines in the 18th century
WEDS JUNE 5th: Acquiring science in early 19th century York: the diary of Jane Ewbank Rachel Feldberg (York): From Crocodiles to the Structure of the Universe: Jane Ewbank’s shifting engagement with the Natural World Matthew Eddy (Durham): Jane Ewbank and Experimental Philosophy: Public Lectures in late Georgian Yorkshire
The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry solicits nominations for the 2024 John and Martha Morris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Modern Chemistry or the History of the Chemical Industry. This award honours the memory of John and Martha Morris, the late parents of Peter Morris, the former editor of Ambix, who has contributed the endowment for this award. The recipient chosen to receive the Morris Award will be expected to deliver a lecture at a meeting of SHAC, where the awardee will be presented with an appropriate framed photograph, picture or document and the sum of £300. The award is international in scope, and nominations are invited from anywhere in the world. Past winners of the Award include Ernst Homburg, Yasu Furukawa, Anthony S. Travis, Mary Jo Nye and Raymond Stokes.
A complete nomination consists of
• a complete curriculum vitae for the nominee, including biographical data, educational background, awards, honours, list of publications, and other service to the profession;
• a letter of nomination summarising the nominee’s outstanding scholarly achievement in either the history of the chemical industry or in the history of recent chemistry (post -1945) and the unique contributions that merit this award; and
• names of two or three individuals for the panel to contact for further information if needed.
Only complete nominations will be considered for the award and the nomination documents must be submitted in electronic form. The Award will be judged by the selection panel on the basis of scholarly publication. All nomination materials should be submitted by e-mail to Peter Morris at doctor@peterjtmorris.plus.com and a separate email which indicates that the material has been submitted should be sent to the same address (a precaution in case of incomplete transmission of documents) for arrival no later than 1 May 2024.
Here are details of a one day in person meeting, a call for papers, the SHAC award scheme and Chemical Intelligence. I hope you find the information useful.
The Development of the Chemist’s Notebook
This one-day in-person meeting organised by the Historical Group will take place on Wednesday 13 March 2024, 10.30-17.00, at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BA.
For many centuries chemists have used notebooks to record their experiments, results, literature research and thoughts. This meeting will feature analysis of the notebook practices of some famous chemists starting from the time of Robert Boyle and consider their evolution until their most recent manifestation in electronic form.
For more information and to book please go to https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/77987/the-development-of-the-chemist-s-notebook or email Peter Morris, Historical Group Secretary, directly at doctor@peterjtmorris.plus.com, giving your name, email address and any special requirements. The event is free of charge. Coffee and tea will be available, but lunch is not included, although there are plenty of cafes nearby in Piccadilly and adjoining streets.
Programme:
10.30 Coffee
10.50 Welcome
11.00 Michael Hunter (Birkbeck, University of London): The Workdiaries of Robert Boyle
C. Reminder – SHAC Spring Meeting – Call for Papers – Deadline 1 March 2024The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry 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 theme is ‘From Late Antique to Early Modern Alchemy: New Approaches, New Horizons’. For further details see:https://www.ambix.org/shac-spring-meeting-call-for-papers/
D.SHAC Award Scheme 2024 Opens 1 March 2024The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry invites applications for its Award Scheme for 2024. SHAC offers two types of award: support for research into the history of chemistry or history of alchemy by both new and independent scholars and support for Subject Development of either history of chemistry or history of alchemy. Application forms must be obtained from grants@ambix.org . For further details see: https://www.ambix.org/grants/
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 by1 March 2024.
The next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Professor Robert Fox (University of Oxford) who will present:
Thomas Garnett: Science, medicine, mobility in eighteenth-century Britain
This will be live on Thursday, 21 March 2024, beginning at 5.00pm GMT (6.00pm CET, 1pm EDT, 10.00am PDT). The format will be a talk of 20-30 minutes, followed by a moderated discussion of half an hour.
As with recent seminars the Zoom link can be freely accessed by anyone, member of SHAC or not, by booking through the following Ticket Source link:
Thomas Garnett: Science, medicine, mobility in eighteenth-century Britain
Robert Fox
Thomas Garnett’s career took him from rural obscurity in eighteenth-century Westmorland to metropolitan prominence as the Royal Institution’s first professor of natural philosophy and chemistry, before his premature death at 36 in 1802. His rise to the summit of British science, via an Edinburgh M.D. and practice as a pioneering spa doctor in Harrogate, was far from easy. But in this talk I present his trajectory as less of a “rags to riches” story of success against the odds than as an exemplar of the opportunities that existed in the expanding marketplace for scientific and medical knowledge in the early years of British industrialization.
The next SHAC webinars will be held on Thursdays 23 May, 11 July, 26 September and 28 November. Details will be sent to members by email and look out for the recordings on our YouTube channel afterwards.
SHAC’s AGM will be held on Tuesday 14 May on Zoom at 2pm. Further details will be published in March.
