Welcome

Featured

Posted on by
join-shac log-in

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/

Follow SHAC on social media

Call for Papers SHAC 2026 Postgraduate and Early Career Conference “The Secrets of Nature”

Posted on by

Friday 20 March 2026 at the Allard Pierson Artis Library, Plantage Middenlaan 45, 1018 DC Amsterdam.

Deadline for submissions: January 5th 2026

This conference seeks to explore the relation between (al)chemical work and “The Secrets of Nature” within and beyond the laboratory. By foregrounding this theme, this conference emphasizes the central role of nature in Alchemy and Chemistry, disciplines that have been fundamental to the History of Science and to Intellectual History more broadly.

This conference invites participants to consider how the theme of Nature has been explored, represented, and debated across different contexts and periods. This topic allows for a wide range of approaches, from textual and visual analysis to conceptual and methodological reflections. The aim of this conference is to create an academic setting in which early career researchers can come together, share their work, and open new conversations about the place of the natural world in the history of alchemy and chemistry. We are delighted to announce that Prof. Dr. Frank James and Dr. Timothy Grieve-Carlson will deliver the keynote lectures at this event, which will be hosted in the Allard Pierson Artis Library, located in Amsterdam’s historic Plantage district. Surrounded by 19th-century architecture and botanical gardens, Artis has long been a center for the study and display of the natural world, playing a key role in the development of the History of Science in Amsterdam. Participants will also have the opportunity and are encouraged to engage with the rich collection of the State-owned part Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica of the Allard Pierson; the manuscripts and printed books from the collection are available for consultation, offering researchers the chance to work directly with sources. Access the collection online using the links provided below. https://www.allardpierson.nl/en/natural-history https://www.allardpierson.nl/en/collection/history-of-sciencehttps://www.allardpierson.nl/en/esotericism

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

● Conceptions of nature in alchemy, chemistry, and natural philosophy.

● (Al)chemical emblems and other visual strategies to transmit (al)chemical knowledge.

● (Al)chemical practice and the development of Early Modern medical knowledge in botanical gardens, for example the case of the Hortus Medicus in Amsterdam.

● Environmental history and historical understandings of the natural world.

● The transformation of substances: chemical processes and their conceptual frameworks.

We welcome proposals for 20 minute talks by graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early career scholars who have received their doctorate no more than three years ago. If you are interested in presenting your work, please send an abstract of approximately 300 words and a short bio to SHAC Student Representative Amber Rozenrichter at studentrep@ambix.org. The deadline for submissions is 5th January 2026.

If you have any questions please contact Amber Rozenrichter at the above email address.

Call for Papers_ Conference The Secrets of Nature (5)Download

October 2025 News

Posted on by

Lots of SHAC events and activities are coming up in the next six months. We hope you can join us at one of them and that you enjoy the new publications.

Remembering Bill Brock

William ‘Bill’ Hodson Brock (1936-2025) was one of the leading historians of chemistry of the last fifty years. As Chair of SHAC and editor of Ambix he played a major role in the Society from the 1960s to the 2000s. He also wrote on the history of publishing, education and many other aspects of nineteenth-century science and culture, publishing in 1992 The Fontana/Norton History of Chemistry, a general history of chemistry from antiquity to the present. To commemorate his life, work and legacy, SHAC is organising a one-day meeting to be held on Friday 10 April 2026 at the Maison Française d’Oxford. Offers of papers (including a short abstract) related in some way to Brock’s work should be sent to Frank James (frank.james@ucl.ac.uk) by 30 November 2025.

Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry – Book of the Light of the Great Magistery

Lawrence M. Principe’s critical edition, English translation, and detailed study of the Book of the Light of the Great Magistery by the Franciscan friar, alchemist, and prophet of the antichrist John of Rupescissa (ca. 1310-1366) forms the third volume of Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry. It will appear in early 2026 as the supplement to the 2025 issue of Ambix. Based on over one hundred surviving manuscripts, many recently discovered, this critical edition restores substantial original text omitted from the printed editions and corrects longstanding textual errors. In the accompanying study, Principe explores John’s sources and ideas, and follows the transmission, reception, vernacularization, and multiple modifications of John’s text over the next three centuries. Modern experimental reworkings, fully illustrated and explained, complement the textual analyses and provide a more vivid understanding of the friar’s practical and observational skills. John intended this book to provide his Franciscan brethren with the financial means, through production of the philosophers’ stone, to rebuild a devastated Christendom after the fall of the antichrist whom he predicted would arrive in 1366. The new critical text and analyses reveal John as an innovative practitioner and theorist, and provokes a close re-examination of the conditions of his nearly twenty-year confinement at the papal prison in Avignon where he wrote his Book of Light.

SHAC Webinars

Recent talks include Francesca Antonelli on “Family historians? Women and the construction of scientific memory, from Mme Lavoisier (1758-1836) to Lucie Laugier (1822-1900)” and Ellen Hausner on “Early modern alchemical characters: the case of Simon Forman (1552-1611).” These can be viewed on the SHAC YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/SocietyforHistoryofAlchemyandChemistry

The next webinar will take place on Thursday 27 November 2025 at 5pm GMT. Look out for details in SHAC member emails, social media, Chem-Hist and Mersenne.

SHAC Postgraduate and Early Career Conference – Call for Papers “The Secrets of Nature”

Friday 20 March 2026 at the Allard Pierson Artis Library, Plantage Middenlaan 45, 1018 DC Amsterdam. Deadline for submissions: January 5th 2026

This conference seeks to explore the relation between (al)chemical work and “The Secrets of Nature” within and beyond the laboratory. By foregrounding this theme, this conference emphasizes the central role of nature in Alchemy and Chemistry, disciplines that have been fundamental to the History of Science and to Intellectual History more broadly.

This conference invites participants to consider how the theme of Nature has been explored, represented, and debated across different contexts and periods. This topic allows for a wide range of approaches, from textual and visual analysis to conceptual and methodological reflections. The aim of this conference is to create an academic setting in which early career researchers can come together, share their work, and open new conversations about the place of the natural world in the history of alchemy and chemistry. We are delighted to announce that Prof. Dr. Frank James and Dr. Timothy Grieve-Carlson will deliver the keynote lectures at this event, which will be hosted in the Allard Pierson Artis Library, located in Amsterdam’s historic Plantage district. Surrounded by 19th-century architecture and botanical gardens, Artis has long been a center for the study and display of the natural world, playing a key role in the development of the History of Science in Amsterdam. Participants will also have the opportunity and are encouraged to engage with the rich collection of the State-owned part Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica of the Allard Pierson; the manuscripts and printed books from the collection are available for consultation, offering researchers the chance to work directly with sources. Access the collection online using the links provided below. https://www.allardpierson.nl/en/natural-history https://www.allardpierson.nl/en/collection/history-of-sciencehttps://www.allardpierson.nl/en/esotericism

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

● Conceptions of nature in alchemy, chemistry, and natural philosophy.

● (Al)chemical emblems and other visual strategies to transmit (al)chemical knowledge.

● (Al)chemical practice and the development of Early Modern medical knowledge in botanical gardens, for example the case of the Hortus Medicus in Amsterdam.

● Environmental history and historical understandings of the natural world.

● The transformation of substances: chemical processes and their conceptual frameworks.

We welcome proposals for 20 minute talks by graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early career scholars who have received their doctorate no more than three years ago. If you are interested in presenting your work, please send an abstract of approximately 300 words and a short bio to SHAC Student Representative Amber Rozenrichter at studentrep@ambix.org. The deadline for submissions is 5th January 2026.

If you have any questions please contact Amber Rozenrichter at the above email address.

Forthcoming Special Issue of Ambix – August and November 2025 Double Issue

The next issue of Ambix to be published will be a special double issue covering August and November 2025. It will explore the nature and agency of fire and its role in human interaction with the material world by focusing on premodern heat technologies. It takes a wide comparative view of different practices, including metalwork and distillation, with an emphasis on early modern Europe and pre-Hispanic South America. The double issue is scheduled to appear online in November and in print soon after. Remember online access to Ambix is included in your membership.

Partington Prize 2026 – Call for Entries

The Partington Prize 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), with the winning article published in SHAC’s Journal, Ambix. The competition is open to anyone with a scholarly interest in the history of alchemy or chemistry who, has not reached thirty-five years of age, or if older is enrolled in a degree programme or has been awarded a master’s degree or PhD within the previous three years. Entries must arrive before midnight GMT on 31 December 2025.

Examples of past-prize winning essays, including Armel Cornu’s 2023 Prize-Winning Essay, “Senses and Utility in the New Chemistry” can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/yamb20/collections/best-paper-partington-prize

Full details can be found in the May 2025 issue of Ambix and at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00026980.2025.2477948

Best regards

The SHAC Officers

Fall 2025 News: Brock Award, SHI Meeting, Ambix Special Issues, Partington Prize

Posted on by

Brock Award 2025

The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry is pleased to announce the winner of the first Brock Award. The Brock Award honours Professor William ‘Bill’ Hodson Brock (1936-2025), one of the leading historians of chemistry of the last fifty years, and is for outstanding contributions in the fields of the history of alchemy and chemistry.

The Brock Award for 2025 is given to Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent for her lifetime of outstanding work in the history of chemistry. For about four decades she has produced original and thought-provoking research in the history and philosophy of chemical and materials science, significantly shaping the historiography of chemistry. Her work stands as an inspiring example of how innovative approaches in these fields can not only illuminate significant historical and philosophical ideas in the chemical sciences, they can also meaningfully contribute to addressing contemporary societal challenges. Bensaude-Vincent has played a key role in establishing collaboration and building scholarly communities across Europe, and in nurturing new generations of scholars in history of chemistry, both formally and informally.

Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, a philosopher by training holds a doctorate from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. A professor at University of Paris Nanterre from 1989 to 2010, she moved to the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. She is now professor emerita and a member of the French Academy of Technologies. She continues to publish innovative work and engage with both the scholarly community and public audiences.

The Brock Award will be presented to Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent at a special SHAC meeting to honour Bill Brock’s memory in spring 2026. Details will be sent to SHAC members when available.

SHAC at SHI – 16-17 October 2025

Just a quick reminder that registration to attend this meeting on the history of alchemy and chemistry, jointly organised by SHAC and SHI, to be held at SHI in Philadelphia is open until 10 October. For further details please visit: https://www.sciencehistory.org/visit/events/fall-2025-meeting-of-the-society-for-the-history-of-alchemy-and-chemistry/

Forthcoming Special Issue of Ambix – August and November 2025 Double Issue

The next issue of Ambix to be published will be a special double issue covering August and November 2025. It will explore the nature and agency of fire and its role in human interaction with the material world by focusing on premodern heat technologies. It takes a wide comparative view of different practices, including metalwork and distillation, with an emphasis on early modern Europe and pre-Hispanic South America. The double issue is scheduled for the November Ambix publication slot and members will be updated on dispatch nearer the time. In advance of publication, articles will appear online at: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/yamb20 . Remember online access to Ambix is included in your membership.

Partington Prize 2026 – Call for Entries

The Partington Prize 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), with the winning article published in SHAC’s Journal, Ambix. The competition is open

to anyone with a scholarly interest in the history of alchemy or chemistry who, has not reached thirty-five years of age, or if older is enrolled in a degree programme or has been awarded a master’s degree or PhD within the previous three years. Entries must arrive before midnight GMT on 31 December 2025.

Examples of past-prize winning essays, including Armel Cornu’s 2023 Prize-Winning Essay, “Senses and Utility in the New Chemistry” can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/yamb20/collections/best-paper-partington-prize

Full details can be found in the May 2025 issue of Ambix and at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00026980.2025.2477948

Best wishes

SHAC Officers

Upcoming Online Seminar “Women and the construction of scientific memory”

Posted on by

The next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Dr Francesca Antonelli (University of Bologna) who will present:

Family historians? Women and the construction of scientific memory, from Mme Lavoisier (1758-1836) to Lucie Laugier (1822-1900)


This will be live on Thursday, 25 September 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/shac-on-line-seminar-dr-francesca-antonelli-university-of-bologna/e-pbyeye


The seminar will be also accessible live on YouTube at

https://youtu.be/-IqrYQ3h9gg

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

Family historians? Women and the construction of scientific memory, from Mme Lavoisier (1758-1836) to Lucie Laugier (1822-1900)

Francesca Antonelli

Family history is widely recognized as one of the first domains where women engaged with modern historical writing, often being regarded as the “natural” custodians of family memory. But what about the history of science? This presentation focuses on how women between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries shaped the posthumous memory of scientists within their families, particularly through the curation of scientific and personal archives, the management of instruments and other objects, and biographical writing. Beginning with the well-documented case of Mme Lavoisier (1758-1836), who crafted her husband’s memory in the early nineteenth century, I turn to the largely overlooked figure of Lucie Laugier (1822-1900), François Arago’s niece and author of biographical accounts of her uncle (published only in the 1990s). Both women served as “secretaries” – as they would put it – to their relatives and managed extensive material and paper collections in radically different political contexts—from post-Revolutionary rehabilitation to Second Empire hostility. Significantly, both are commemorated in public monuments—Arago’s in 1879 and Lavoisier’s in 1900—depicted precisely in these roles. I will thus deal with their cases to raise some questions on women’s agency in constructing scientific memory and the complex negotiations between family and institutional narratives of scientific commemoration.

May News (Online Seminar about Alchemical Characters, AGM, Partington Prize, Brock Award & future meetings)

Posted on by

This post is almost overflowing with news of forthcoming events brought to you by SHAC over the next few months.

1.     SHAC WEBINAR – Thursday 22 May 2025 at 5pm BST: Ellen Hausner – Early modern alchemical characters: the case of Simon Forman (1552-1611)

An invitation to the next SHAC seminar to be held on 22nd May and a reminder to register for the AGM to be held on Monday 12th May .

The next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Ellen Hausner (University of Oxford) who will present:

Early modern alchemical characters: the case of Simon Forman (1552-1611)

This will be live on Thursday, 22 May 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-yajvvzp 

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

Early modern alchemical characters: the case of Simon Forman (1552-1611)

Ellen Hausner

From the late medieval era through the end of the early modern period, writers of alchemical literature used both verbal and pictorial methods of communication. Alongside these two systems, a third, visually abstract language began to be used to transmit meaning. Known in the period as ‘characters,’ these symbolic notations and signs were pervasive across alchemical literature and became a vital form of expression in alchemical texts.

This talk will explore the ways in which alchemical characters may have been perceived in the early modern period through an examination of the writings of Simon Forman (1552-1611). He was one of many alchemists in the early seventeenth century fascinated by these characters, creating several lists of them along with their interpretations. The evidence from Forman’s writings shows that he did not regard alchemical characters solely as a notation system for representing alchemical substances, processes, and apparatus. Rather, he believed them to have a celestial origin, and to contain some of the same properties as those found in magical sigils, astrological glyphs, and angelic signs. Forman serves as an example of how the early history of alchemical characters is situated in the context of a culture steeped in symbolic characters which were seen to connect humans to other realms.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. The SHAC AGM covering 2024 will take place on Monday 12 May 2025 at 2 pm (UK time) on Zoom.   

If you would like to attend the AGM, please register ahead of the meeting using the Ticketsource link below:

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

If you are unable to attend but wish to send your apologies please contact our administrative coordinator, Dr. Rebecca Martin, using meetings@ambix.org. 

3.     SHAC AWARD SCHEME 2025

Remember the deadline is 31 May 2025 and application forms have to be requested in advance from grants@ambix.org

Information from: https://www.ambix.org/grants/

4.     SHAC Autumn Meeting – Call for Papers

 16 and 17 October 2025, at the Science History Institute, Philadelphia 

It is intended that the first day of this two day meeting will cover the history of alchemy and early modern chemistry, while the second day will discuss the history of chemistry from then to the modern period. Offers of papers on any aspect of the history of alchemy and chemistry, including their historiography, should be sent, with a short description, to the SHAC chair, Professor Frank James (frank.james@ucl.ac.uk), by 31 May 2025.

5.     SHAC Brock Award – Call for Nominations

Nominations by 30 June 2025 – please see details at

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00026980.2024.2420472?src=exp-la

6.     Partington Prize 2026 – Call for Entries

The Partington Prize 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), with the winning article published in SHAC’s Journal, Ambix. The competition is open to anyone with a scholarly interest in the history of alchemy or chemistry who, has not reached thirty-five years of age, or if older is enrolled in a degree programme or has been awarded a master’s degree or PhD within the previous three years. Entries must arrive before midnight GMT on 31 December 2025. 

Examples of past-prize winning essays, including Armel Cornu’s 2023 Prize-Winning Essay, “Senses and Utility in the New Chemistry” can be found at

https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/yamb20/collections/best-paper-partington-prize

Full details can be found in the May 2025 issue of Ambix and at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00026980.2025.2477948

Best regards

Rob Johnstone

Hon Treasurer SHAC

The Partington Prize 2026

Posted on by

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/