Monthly Archives: March 2025

The Partington Prize 2026

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The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry established the Partington Prize in memory of Professor James Riddick Partington, the Society’s first Chairman. It is awarded every three years for an original and unpublished essay on any aspect of the history of alchemy or chemistry. The prize consists of five hundred pounds (£500) if awarded to a single essay. Alternatively, it may be divided, or not awarded at all.

The competition is open to anyone with a scholarly interest in the history of alchemy or chemistry who, by the closing date of 31 December 2025, has not reached 35 years of age, or if older is currently enrolled in a degree programme or has been awarded a master’s degree or PhD within the previous three years. No restriction is placed on the nationality or country of residence of competitors. Only one entry is permitted from any competitor.

The prize-winning essay will be published exclusively in the Society’s journal, Ambix. It must not have been submitted to any journal, including Ambix, at any time before 30 April 2026.

Essays must be submitted in English. Essays must be fully documented using the conventions used in the current issue of Ambix and include an abstract of no more than 200 words. Essays must not exceed 10,000 words in length, including the abstract, references and footnotes.

All entries should be sent to prizes@ambix.org in the form of two separate e-mail attachments in Microsoft Office Word (preferably 2013 or later). The first attachment should be headed “Partington Prize Entry 2026” and should give the author’s name, institution, postal address, e-mail address, date of birth (and, if relevant, the date of the award of the master’s degree or PhD), the title of the essay, and the word count. The second attachment should be the essay, which should not identify the author either by name or implicitly.

Entries must arrive before midnight GMT on 31 December 2025. The decision of the Society will be final on all matters. The result of the competition will be announced by 30 April 2026.

For more information, see https://www.ambix.org/partington-prize/

March 2025 News

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The next on line seminar will be on Thursday, 27 March 2025

The next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Dr Christopher Halm (Deutsches Museum, Munich) who will present:

Escaping Earth, Sustaining the Moon: The ‘Chemistry’ Behind Public Narratives of Lunar Habitation and Cosmic Age
This will be live on Thursday, 27 March 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:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/society-for-the-history-of-alchemy-and-chemistry/t-lnpldga

 The seminar will be also accessible live on YouTube at

Most previous on-line seminars can be found on the SHAC YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/SocietyforHistoryofAlchemyandChemistry

Escaping Earth, Sustaining the Moon: The ‘Chemistry’ Behind Public Narratives of Lunar Habitation and Cosmic Age 

Christopher Halm

Recent space programmes, particularly NASA’s Artemis initiative, present space travel and lunar habitation in ecological terms, emphasising sustainability and resource efficiency. Yet this rhetoric obscures a deeper historical trajectory.

This talk explores how lunar exploration narratives—rooted in museological practices, Cold War geopolitics, and the public presentation of moon rockresearch—have constructed the Moon as both a spatial and temporal escape from earthly crises. Focusing on museum displays and the scientific use of lunar samples, I argue that moon rocks have served as instruments for advancing and disseminating narratives of civilisational progress. In this context, the Apollo programme offered a redemptive vision—an escape from the destruction, division, and psychological rupture of the Second World War into the pristine, unclaimed realm of the Moon. Space exhibitions, such as those in Bonn’s Haus der Geschichte, and research institutions like the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz have reinforced a narrative of spatial and temporal transcendence, framing moon rocks as heralds of a new era.

By tracing the political and scientific representations of moon rocks, this talk examines how the Moon has been enlisted in broader efforts to reframe human history, resolve cross-cultural traumas, and establish new frontiers of political and technological legitimacy.

Chemical Intelligence

The winter edition of Chemical Intelligence is now available on the SHAC web site on either of these links:

Chemical Intelligence Winter 2025 issue
Chemical Intelligence

Best wishes

Rob Johnstone

On behalf of Frank James

SHAC Spring Meeting 29th March in person at UCL

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The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC) is holding its Spring Meeting, which will also mark its 90th Anniversary, in person on Saturday 29 March 2025 at University College London (LG04, 26 Bedford Way).

The meeting will be on The Biographies of Alchemists and Chemists and registration, which costs  £18.50, is now available  via this TicketSource link:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/society-for-the-history-of-alchemy-and-chemistry/t-vvgzdpy

Programme:

9.30Coffee 
10.00Frank James (UCL)Opening remarks
10.15Laurence Chen (UCL)Mercurial self-fashioning: mythological (auto)biographies in Elias Ashmole’s Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
10.45Sergei Zotov (Warwick)Visual Biographies: Portraits and Monuments in Early Modern Alchemical Manuscripts
11.15Charlotte Abney Salomon (SHI)J.G. Gahn, in the Words of Others
11.45Anna Simmons (UCL) “The perspicuity of style, and the proprietary of expression”: Lectures, Laboratories and William Thomas Brande (1788-1866)
12.15Lunch, not provided but some will be heading to the Wellcome café 
2.00Jenny Wilson (UCL)Campaigning for peace: The work of Dame Kathleen Lonsdale FRS (1903-1971)
2.30Annette Lykknes (NTNU, Trondheim)Clusters of women in laboratories or institutes of technology: Reflections on prosopographical approaches to the history of (women in) chemistry
3.00Tea 
3.30Carsten Reinhardt (Bielefeld)Autobiographies of Chemists: The Lives in Chemistry Series
4.00Judith Kaplan (SHI)Who are the Biographers? Reflections on Problem Choice and Personal Investment
4.30Roundtable for reminiscences to mark the 90th anniversary of SHAC with a glass of wineParticipants will include Gerrylynn Roberts, John Brooke, Robert Anderson and Peter Morris
5.30End of meeting 

We look forward to seeing you there.

Best regards

Rob Johnstone

Hon Treasurer.