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/
SHAC is delighted to announce that the new Editor-in-Chief of Ambix, Professor Annette Lykknes, is the winner of the Joseph B. Lambert HIST Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry for 2026 for her outstanding contributions to the advancement of the study and communication of the history of chemistry. In her nominating letter, Brigitte van Tiggelen lauded Professor Lykknes: “She acts as a figurehead for our discipline, embodying the values and ideals that make our field vibrant, creative, beneficial and inclusive.” See the current issue of SHAC’s newsletter Chemical Intelligence for full details.
HIST Award Biography for Annette Lykknes (1974-)
The winner of the Joseph B. Lambert HIST Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry for 2026 is Annette Lykknes for her outstanding contributions to the advancement of the study and communication of the history of chemistry. In her nominating letter, Brigitte van Tiggelen lauded Professor Lykknes: “She acts as a figurehead for our discipline, embodying the values and ideals that make our field vibrant, creative, beneficial and inclusive.”
Professor Lykknes is a true daughter of Norway, but she has become a mother of the European community of the history of chemistry. She was educated at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She received a Masters degree in Chemical Education and taught mathematics and science for two years. While her interest in education remains a driving force for her, she decided to pursue a Ph.D. in the history of chemistry and obtained this in 2005 at NTNU under Prof. Lise Kvittingen, with thesis titled “Ellen Gleditsch: Professor, Radiochemist, and Mentor.” Now she combines both pillars of her profession as Professor of Teacher Education at NTNU.
One of the secrets of her success is her commitment to an interdisciplinary approach to her scholarship. In her own words: “Over the course of my academic career, I have collaborated extensively with chemists and other natural scientists as well as with educators within these fields, with historians, philosophers and sociologists of science, with pedagogy scholars and with language experts and researchers of the Norwegian language, and even with a political scientist. The result of this is a foot in different fields and knowledge of quite distinct research methods and theoretical perspectives.”
The Award committee noted: “Professor Lykknes has contributed to an amazing array of research topical areas including: history of women scientists, studies of the collaborations of couples in science, history of the periodic table, discovery of the chemical elements, history of chemical education, how twentieth-century chemical engineers shaped the relationships between the academy and industries, and the application of the history of science to teach science.” Alan Rocke especially noted her treatment of the work of Marie Curie as “revealing the complex nature of scientific discovery itself.”
Annette Lykknes is at the center of the worldwide community of historians of chemistry.. She is now the Editor-in-Chief of the flagship journal Ambix. She is currently the Chair of the Division of the History of Chemistry of the European Chemical Society. While her publication record is sterling, and her research is groundbreaking, her greatest achievements have been as a leader.
HIST is thrilled to honor Professor Annette Lykknes with the 2026 Joseph B. Lambert Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry.
Society for theHistory ofAlchemy andChemistry AwardScheme 2026
Opening date: 1 March 2026
Closing date forapplications: 31 May 2026
The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry invites applications for its Award Scheme for 2026. 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. It is expected that applicants will be advised of the outcome of their application by 31 July 2026.
The Awards are most suitable for activities planned to be undertaken during the period 1 August 2026– 30 September 2027. In exceptional circumstances applications may be considered for activities which occur between the deadline on 31 May and 31 July, but this must be brought to the attention of SHAC when submitting the application for the Award. A two-year window for completion of all Awards will be given. Research Awards are open to post-graduate students (both masters and doctoral students), those who have obtained a PhD since 1 January 2016 and also to independent scholars. Given that the circumstances of independent scholars differ we are letting members ‘self-define’ and if there are any unclear cases it will be left to the discretion of the Awards Panel.
Awards of up to £1000 will be made to cover research expenses, including travel, accommodation, subsistence (at the discretion of the award panel), the copying or scanning of documents, and library fees. Applications may also include the costs of reproducing images for publication. The Scheme does not fund the purchase of equipment or course fees. It does not cover the costs of Open Access publication. In addition, those who have obtained a PhD since 1 January 2016 and independent scholars may apply for the costs of travel to conferences and accommodation, but only in order to give a paper. There is an expectation that awardees will attend the entire conference, unless there are exceptional circumstances. The Scheme does not pay conference registration fees. Subject Development Awards of up to £1000
may be made to support activities such as seminars, workshops, colloquia, lecture series, conference sessions, conferences, exhibitions and outreach activities that support either the history of chemistry or history of alchemy as academic subjects. The Awards do not cover the costs of refreshments or catering for these events or honoraria for speakers. The Scheme does not cover the costs of Open Access publication. Please note that activities covered by the Awards do not have to occur in the UK, and that the Awards are open to members of the Society resident both in the UK and elsewhere. Members who have applied to the Scheme in previous years, whether successfully or not, are entitled to make an application in 2026.
Applicants must be members of the Society in good standing at the time of making an application, and, if successful, throughout the period of an award.
For more information and application forms, please contact grants@ambix.org. Membership enquiries should be made to newjoiner@ambix.org.
An activity report must be submitted at the end of the Award. This will usually be published in SHAC’s Chemical Intelligence newsletter.
Next SHAC on-line seminar, Thursday, 22 January 2026, 5pm (London Time)
The next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Dr Michael Bycroft (University of Warwick) who will present:
Gems and the Crafts in the Chemical Revolution
This will be live on Thursday, 22 January 2026, beginning at 5.00pm (London time). The format will be a talk of 20-30 minutes, followed by a moderated discussion of half an hour.
The seminar will be also accessible live on YouTube at: rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2 When booking please ensure that you provide the e-mail address where you would like your link to be sent. Both links will go live just before the seminar.
Gems and the Crafts in the Chemical Revolution Michael Bycroft Chemistry is inseparable from the chemical crafts. This is a commonplace in the historiography of chemistry. But what about the relationship between the crafts themselves? How were chemical ideas shaped by the interaction between different arts, trades and industries? I answer this question with respect to gemstones in European chemistry in the latter part of the eighteenth century. In this period, and not before, chemists found general procedures for dividing gems into their component substances. Miners, apothecaries, glass-makers, and porcelain-makers were all involved in this process, as well as jewellers and diamond-cutters. These interactions between crafts were not just a matter of generalization or juxtaposition. New kinds of analysis emerged when two or more crafts interacted. Chemistry was greater than the sum of its crafts.
‘Michel Serres, historian of science despite himself’
Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Emeritus Professor, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
9 April 17:00
Maison Française d’Oxford
Abstract:
In 1969 Michel Serres was elected professor in the history of science at University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne where he served until 1989. However, this mathematician turned philosopher considered this election as a mistake or even a mischief and he never endorsed the role of historian. He taught the history of science in spite of himself although he was an expert in this domain, unlike Sganarelle, the Doctor in spite of himself staged by Molière. For him, teaching the history of science was a way to reconcile his two passions for science and literature.
In this paper I will outline three aspects of Serres’s unorthodox view of the history of science: i) there is no rigid boundary between science, fable and myths; ii) science generates a time of its own that is neither amenable to the arrow of progress nor to a timeline; iii) his history science raises a philosophical question: who are the subjects of knowledge?
SHAC Spring meeting “Remembering Bill Brock: Chemistry and Culture“
10 April 2026
Arranged with and at the Maison Française d’Oxford, 2-10 Norham Road, Oxford, OX2 6SE
This meeting is being held to commemorate the life, work and legacy of William Hodson Brock (1936-2025), who spent his entire career at the University of Leicester. Sometime chair of SHAC and editor of its journal Ambix, Brock was one of the leading historians of chemistry in his time, writing the Fontana/Norton History of Chemistry, as well as biographies of William Crookes, Justus von Liebig and Henry Edward Armstrong. (An extended obituary can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00026980.2025.2489298). The papers to be presented at this meeting take their starting point from Brock’s work and historical interests.
9.30
Registration and Coffee
9.55
Welcome:
Stéphane Van Damme, MFO, and Frank James, SHAC
10.00
First Brock Award Lecture:
Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Université Paris 1-Panthéon-Sorbonne The history of chemistry through the lens of materials. A very short introduction
10.45
Session 1:
Alan Rocke, Case Western Reserve University: The Best of Frenemies: Liebig and Dumas (A Tribute to William H. Brock)
11.15
Coffee
11.45
Session 2:
Eira H. Betthell (Booth), University of Essex: From Laboratory to Library: Bill Brock’s Prolific Writing as Chemical Practice Matthew Daniel Eddy, Durham University: A Context for Colonial Chemistry: Thinking with Bill Brock about the Biomedical Relevance of Dr J. A. B. Horton’s Experiments on the Soil of Sierra Leone Georgiana D. Hedesan, University of Oxford: The Foundation of the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry in 1935: Between Historical Research and the Transmutational Paradigm Michael Jewess, Independent Scholar: Working with Bill: Robert Fergus Hunter (1904-1963)
13.15
Lunch
Not provided but there are some good pubs nearby
14.30
Tribute from the Brock family:
Susannah Ahluwalia, Gareth Brock and Benjamin Brock
14.50
Session 3:
Julia Carr-Trebelhorn, University of Cincinnati: Burning Diamonds: Lavoisier, Guettard, and the 1771 Development of Reduction Firing and Hard-Paste Porcelain in Paris John R.R. Christie, University of Oxford: Commerce, Manufacture and Practical Chemistry in 18th– Century Britain Robert Bud, Science Museum/UCL: Poison gas and Art Deco: analysing early 20th century ambivalence about chemistry
16.00
Coffee
16.20
Session 4:
Robin Mackie, Open University and Gerrylynn K Roberts, Independent Scholar: Counting the British Chemical Community, 1881-1971: Opening the ‘Black Box’ Annette Lykknes, Norwegian University of Science and Technology: Crookes’ Vis Generatrix in teaching and learning
17.15
Closing remarks
17.20
End of meeting
There is no charge for this meeting, but please let Frank James, frank.james@ucl.ac.uk, know if you wish to attend.
The next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Dr Stefania Buosi-Moncunill (University of Barcelona) who will present:
From Sacred Plants to Golden Wine: The Alchemist’s Art of Healing
This will be live on Thursday, 27 November 2025, beginning at 5.00pm (London time). 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:
From Sacred Plants to Golden Wine: The Alchemist’s Art of Healing
Stefania Buosi-Moncunill
This presentation explores the many healing dimensions of medical alchemy as it was practiced within the Occitan-Catalan school of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It is based on extensive archival and philological research and forms part of the forthcoming collected volume The Medical Legacy of Medieval Alchemy: Elixirs, Healing Waters, and Precious Stones (Palgrave, 2025), co-edited with Lawrence M. Principe (Johns Hopkins University).
At the heart of the Occitan-Catalan medico-alchemical tradition lies the idea of a medicina integralis, a holistic vision in which the healing of the body and the regeneration of the spirit converge in a single quest for harmony with the cosmos. Remedies such as theriac, aurum potabile, and the elixir were not mere pharmacological compounds, but true thresholds of transformation leading toward deeper states of balance and knowledge.
