Distilling Knowledge

Distilling Knowledge
Author: Bruce T. MORAN
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2009-06-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0674041224

Reacting to the perception that the break, early on in the scientific revolution, between alchemy and chemistry was clean and abrupt, Moran literately and engagingly recaps what was actually a slow process. Far from being the superstitious amalgam it is now considered, alchemy was genuine science before and during the scientific revolution. The distinctive alchemical procedure--distillation--became the fundamental method of analytical chemistry, and the alchemical goal of transmuting "base metals" into gold and silver led to the understanding of compounds and elements. What alchemy very gradually but finally lost in giving way to chemistry was its spiritual or religious aspect, the linkages it discerned between purely physical and psychological properties. Drawing saliently from the most influential alchemical and scientific texts of the medieval to modern epoch (especially the turbulent and eventful seventeenth century), Moran fashions a model short history of science volume

From Alchemy to Chemistry in Picture and Story

From Alchemy to Chemistry in Picture and Story
Author: Arthur Greenberg
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 688
Release: 2006-12-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0470085231

Praise for From Alchemy to Chemistry in Picture and Story "The timeline from alchemy to chemistry contains some of the most mystifying ideas and images that humans have ever devised. Arthur Greenberg shows us this wonderful world in a unique and highly readable book." —Dr. John Emsley, author of The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison "Art Greenberg takes us, through text and lovingly selected images, on a 'magical mystery tour' of the chemical universe. No matter what page you open, there is a chemical story worth telling." —Dr. Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Laureate and coauthor of Chemistry Imagined "Chemistry has perhaps the most intricate, most fascinating, and certainly most romantic history of all the sciences. Arthur Greenberg's essays-delightful, learned, quirky, highly personal, and richly illustrated with contemporary drawings (many of great rarity and beauty)-provide a kaleidoscope of intellectual landscapes, bringing the experiments, the ideas, and the human figures of chemistry's past intensely alive." —Dr. Oliver Sacks, author of Awakenings From Alchemy to Chemistry in Picture and Story takes you on an illustrated tour of chemistry's fascinating history, from its early focus on the spiritual relationship between man and nature to some of today's most cutting-edge applications. Drawing from rare publications and artwork that span over five centuries, the book contains nearly 200 essays and over 350 illustrations-including 24 in full color-that tell the engaging story of the development of this fundamental science and its connection with human history. Join Arthur Greenberg as he combines the "best of the best" from his previous works (as well as several new essays) to paint a colorful picture of chemistry's remarkable origins!

The Secrets of Alchemy

The Secrets of Alchemy
Author: Lawrence Principe
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2013
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0226682951

Alchemy, the Noble Art, conjures up scenes of mysterious, dimly lit laboratories populated with bearded old men stirring cauldrons. Though the history of alchemy is intricately linked to the history of chemistry, alchemy has nonetheless often been dismissed as the realm of myth and magic, or fraud and pseudoscience. And while its themes and ideas persist in some expected and unexpected places, from the Philosopher's (or Sorcerer's) Stone of Harry Potter to the self-help mantra of transformation, there has not been a serious, accessible, and up-to-date look at the complete history and influence of alchemy until now.

Atoms and Alchemy

Atoms and Alchemy
Author: William R. Newman
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2010-05-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0226577031

Since the Enlightenment, alchemy has been viewed as a sort of antiscience, disparaged by many historians as a form of lunacy that impeded the development of rational chemistry. But in Atoms and Alchemy, William R. Newman—a historian widely credited for reviving recent interest in alchemy—exposes the speciousness of these views and challenges widely held beliefs about the origins of the Scientific Revolution. Tracing the alchemical roots of Robert Boyle’s famous mechanical philosophy, Newman shows that alchemy contributed to the mechanization of nature, a movement that lay at the very heart of scientific discovery. Boyle and his predecessors—figures like the mysterious medieval Geber or the Lutheran professor Daniel Sennert—provided convincing experimental proof that matter is made up of enduring particles at the microlevel. At the same time, Newman argues that alchemists created the operational criterion of an “atomic” element as the last point of analysis, thereby contributing a key feature to the development of later chemistry. Atomsand Alchemy thus provokes a refreshing debate about the origins of modern science and will be welcomed—and deliberated—by all who are interested in the development of scientific theory and practice.

A Chemical History Tour

A Chemical History Tour
Author: Arthur Greenberg
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2000-03-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0471354082

Von der Alchimie zur modernen Chemie, von der Kunst des Goldmachens zur Moleküldynamik und chemischen Großproduktion: Verfolgen Sie die Entwicklung einer geheimnisvollen Kunst zur Naturwissenschaft! Der Autor trug Dokumente und Illustrationen aus über 400 Jahren zusammen; die Abbildungen sind ganzseitig und von hervorragender Qualität. Lebendig, interessant, informativ! (05/00)

The Chemical Choir

The Chemical Choir
Author: P. G. Maxwell-Stuart
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2012-03-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 144113297X

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The Story of Chemistry

The Story of Chemistry
Author: Anne Rooney
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
Total Pages: 423
Release: 2017-11-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1788880552

'The importance of the end in view prompted me to undertake all this work, which seemed to me destined to bring about a revolution in physics and chemistry.' Antoine Lavoisier, 1773 Great advances in human history have often rested on and prompted progress in chemistry. The exploitation of fire, the development of pigments, and the discovery that metals could be smelted and worked laid the foundations of civilization. The search for better tools and weapons drove metallurgy, and the need for medicines and perfumes lay behind the first laboratories. This book traces a story of exploration and discovery, from the earliest applications of chemistry by our ancient forebears. For more than 1,000 years, alchemists pursued the transformation of matter until the advent of modern chemistry in the 17th century set us on the path to the complex science of today. Topics include: • prechemistry since prehistory • alchemy and the transmutation of metals • the rise of the scientific method • identifying the chemical elements • understanding gases • the nature of the atom • organic chemistry • chemical analysis Beautifully illustrated throughout