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:
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.
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:
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.
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
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
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
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:
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:
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:
The next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Dr Sarah Hijmans (Université Paris Cité) who will present:
Not quite simple: The classification of “undecompounded bodies” in nineteenth-century chemical textbooks
This will be live on Thursday, 23 January 2025, beginning at 5.00pm GMT (6.00pm CET, 12 noon ET, 9.00am PT). 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:
Not quite simple: The classification of “undecompounded bodies” in nineteenth-century chemical textbooks
Sarah Hijmans
Near the end of the eighteenth century, Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier famously argued that any substance which could not be decomposed should be seen as a chemical element. Often called the “negative-empirical” criterion for elementary nature, this characterization of chemical elements remained dominant in chemical textbooks until the end of the nineteenth century. While there has been much discussion in the literature on the origins of the negative-empirical criterion, few have questioned whether this term adequately captures nineteenth-century views of chemical elements. In this talk, I will argue that the actual identification and characterization of chemical elements during the first half of the nineteenth was neither strictly based on the negative criterion of failed decomposition, nor a simple empirical fact. I will illustrate this by focusing on a group of “undecompounded bodies” and their classification in the textbooks of Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779-1848), Louis Jacques Thenard (1777-1857) and Thomas Thomson (1773-1852). This will show a distinction that only few chemists explicitly reflected upon: on the one hand, not all undecompounded bodies were seen as simple, and on the other, not all simple bodies could be isolated in the form of undecompounded bodies.
More interesting news for you to ponder on during the holiday break.
1 The November issue of Ambix has been published online and hard copies will be dispatched soon, although there may be delays in delivery over the holiday season. Members can access the issue by logging in at https://www.ambix.org/ . A list of contents is available at https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/yamb20/current
2 SHAC Special ICHC14 Award Scheme – Grants to support attendance at 14ICHC in Valencia, Spain, 11-14 June 2025
Applicants are invited to apply for grants under a Special Award Scheme from the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC) to support attendance of early-career scholars and independent scholars at the 14th International Conference on the History of Chemistry in Valencia, Spain on 11 June to 14 June 2025. Awards of up to £400 will be made as a contribution towards the cost of travel, accommodation, and registration fees for those giving a paper at the conference. Early-career scholars are defined as post-graduate students (both masters and doctoral students) and those who have obtained a PhD since January 2015. For more information see: https://www.ambix.org/grants/
3 The SHAC Postgraduate and Early Career Workshop takes place on 14th January 2025 in St Johns Cottage, University of Oxford concerningAlchemy and Chemistry as Vessels for Cultural Discourse.
Zoom details will be released closer to the time of the event.
Welcome: 9:00 – 9:05 Session 1: 9:05 – 10:20
Josh Werrett, University of Oxford / Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Baptism and the Reborn Body: Zosimos’ Alchemy in a Pre-Nicene Context
Paulina Gennerman, Marburg University
The Complex Shades of ‘Drug’: Psychoactive Substances as Part of Cultural and Social Discourse
Lea Elisabeth Hinterholzer, Georg-August-University
John of Teschen’s Lumen Secretorum: Poetry Inside or Outside the Laboratory?
Break: 10:20 – 10:35 Session 2: 10:35 – 12:15
Brian Li, University of Cambridge The Material and Moral Cultures of Living Alchemy in the Paracelsan Tradition
Ellen Hausner, University of Oxford Comprehending Characters: Keys to Abstract Notations in Early Modern Alchemical Texts
Elena Morgana, University of Oxford From Elixir to Alkahest: The Evolution of a Panacea in the Kingdom of Naples, 1620-1670.
Sergei Zotov, Warburg Institute / University of Warwick Vomiting the Sea of Blood: Unique Image Series in CG Jung’s Alchemical Manuscripts
Lunch: 12:15 – 13:15 Session 3: 13:15 – 14:30
Johannes Chan, York University Bounded Life and Imperial Metabolisms: The Mechanics of Mills and Labouring Bodies
Sajdeep Soomal, University of Toronto The Looping Effects of Settler Colonialism: Agrarian Expansion in the Canadian North-West and the Chemical Utilization of Industrial Waste, 1874-1910
Silvia Pérez-Criado, University of Valencia From Laboratory to Society: DDT and Public Health in Franco’s Spain
Break: 14:30 – 14:45 Session 4: 14:45 – 16:00
Christopher Halm, Deutsches Museum Munich Seeking Refuge in Earth’s Deepest Time: Cosmochemistry and How to Escape the Tragedies of World War II
Robert Slinn, University of York Vocational Education and Training in the British Chemical Industry, 1945-1995
Sofiya Kamalova Rogova, University of Valencia Tracing Toxicity: The Chemical Product Cycle in the Ardystil Case
