Category Archives: SHAC Meetings & Events

May 2026 News

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  1. THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY IN NORTHWEST EUROPE: LOCAL AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES, LILLE, TUESDAY 5 MAY 2026, 11.00-17.20 CET

The history of the chemical industry has long attracted scholarly attention and continues to do so today. This workshop, organised by Gabriel Galvez Behar and Joris Mercelis, reflects on the current state of the historiography, including its implications for other areas of research. Focusing on Northwest Europe and its connections to other regions, the workshop provides a forum to discuss works in progress and identify avenues for future research. Those interested in attending, either in person or virtually, are encouraged to register via this link:

Answer the survey – The Chemical Industry in Northwest Europe – Evento

2.     SHAC ONLINE SEMINAR – JOHN OF RUPESCISSA’S THE BOOK OF THE LIGHT OF THE GREAT MAGISTERY: ALCHEMY, ANTICHRIST, AND IMPRISONMENT – THURSDAY, 28 MAY 2026

The next on-line seminar will be given by Professor Lawrence Principe (Johns Hopkins University). This will be live on Thursday, 28 May 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. To register please e-mail meetings@ambix.org with ‘SHAC on-line seminar’ in the subject line. You will then be sent a Zoom link on the morning of the seminar.

The seminar will be also accessible live on YouTube at:

Abstract:
Convinced that the antichrist was “at our gates,” the fourteenth-century Franciscan friar, alchemist, and prophet John of Rupescissa wrote The Book of the Light of the Great Magistery while imprisoned in papal Avignon. John’s goal was to provide a means for restoring a devastated post-antichrist Christendom using the philosophers’ stone, the substance able to transmute base metals into gold and silver. With this alchemical gold and silver, the true and faithful Franciscans, the “poor men of the Gospel,” could rebuild the Church and help usher in a millennium of peace and prosperity.

In this book launch seminar, Lawrence Principe will discuss the first critical edition, modern English translation, and focused study of John’s Book of the Light. The friar’s restored text, produced using both philological tools and laboratory reworkings, reveals John as an innovative thinker and practitioner whose ideas often oppose key features of Aristotelian natural philosophy, and requires a reassessment of the actual conditions of John’s long imprisonment. 

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

4.     SHAC AWARD SCHEME 2026

Remember the deadline is 31 May 2026 and application forms have to be requested in advance from grants@ambix.org .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. 

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

5.     OXFORD SEMINARS IN THE HISTORY OF ALCHEMY AND CHEMISTRY – SPONSORED BY SHAC

A reminder that theses seminars take place in person only between 3 pm and 5 pm on 13 May, 20 May and 3 June 2026 at the Maison Française d’Oxford, 2-10 Norham Road, Oxford, OX2 6SE.  All are welcome to attend. No prior registration required. For more information see: Spring 2026 Oxford Seminar in the History of Alchemy and Chemistry – Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

Best regards

The SHAC Officer team

SHAC Autumn Meeting 2026 – Call for Papers

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5 and 6 November 2026 at the Deutsches Museum, Munich, https://www.deutsches-museum.de/en

SHAC is delighted to announce that its next meeting will take place at the Deutsches Museum, Munich. Following the success of the meeting at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia in 2025, SHAC is continuing its programme of holding meetings outside of Britain and welcomes offers of papers from all with a scholarly interest in the history of alchemy and chemistry.

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. A tour of the museum’s collections will also be arranged as part of the meeting. 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 2026.

April 2026 News and Upcoming Events

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1.     SHAC AWARD SCHEME 2026

Remember the deadline is 31 May 2026 and application forms have to be requested in advance from grants@ambix.org . 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. 

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

2.     THE PARTINGTON PRIZE 2026

SHAC is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2026 Partington Prize is Dr Flavio Bevacqua of University of Padua for the entry  “Alchemy in 15th-Century Byzantium: The Case for the Role of Georgios-Gennadios Scholarios’ Circle”.

Flavio’s entry brings together for the first time two medieval texts in the history of alchemy, reconstructing the intellectual milieu surrounding the Byzantine scholar Georgios-Gennadios Scholarios. The author diligently and judiciously integrates manuscript evidence with philological analysis and cultural contextualization, illuminating a previously underexamined dimension of alchemical history in Byzantium. We congratulate Flavio Bevacqua for his groundbreaking work.

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-winning article will be published in the Society’s journal, Ambix, in 2026.

3.     SHAC SPRING MEETING – REMEMBERING BILL BROCK: CHEMISTRY AND CULTURE 10 April 2026, Maison Française d’Oxford, 2-10 Norham Road, Oxford, OX2 6SE  https://www.mfo.ac.uk/

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.

There is no charge for this meeting, but please let Frank James know, (frank.james@ucl.ac.uk) by 5 April 2026 if you wish to attend.

4.     OXFORD SEMINARS IN THE HISTORY OF ALCHEMY AND CHEMISTRY – SPONSORED BY SHAC 13TH, 20TH MAY AND 3RD JUNE

 Convenors: Ellen Hausner (Oxford), Sergei Zotov (Warburg), and Jo Hedesan (Oxford)

The meetings take place between 3 pm and 5 pm at the Maison Française d’Oxford, 2-10 Norham Road, Oxford, OX2 6SE. https://www.mfo.ac.uk/ There is no charge for these seminars and all are welcome to attend.  No prior registration required.

13 May 2026

Session 1 — Life and Nature in Early Modern Alchemy
Chair: Sergei Zotov (Warburg Institute)

Oana Matei (Western University of Arad): Can Life Rise from Ashes? Discussions on the Possibility of the Palingenesis of Plants in the Seventeenth Century

Xinyi Wen (Warburg Institute): Cosmos or Coitus? A Copy Census of Oswald Croll’s Basilica Chymica, 1609–1690
20 May 2026

Session 2 — Spiritual Foundations of Alchemy
Chair: Ellen Hausner (Oxford)

Mark Edwards (Oxford): Ancient Alchemy as Philosophy

Charles Burnett (Warburg Institute): Alchemy as Divinatio
3 June 2026

Session 3 — Computational History of Alchemy and Chemistry
Chair: Rob Iliffe (Oxford)

Vojtěch Kaše (University of West Bohemia, Plzeň), and Sarah Lang (Max Planck Institute, Berlin): Tracing the Histories of Early Modern Conceptual Ecosystems: Remote Sensing Methods for the Archaeology of Alchemical Knowledge

Guillermo Restrepo (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig): Computational History of Chemistry: How Big Data Illuminates Macrohistorical Trends and Microhistorical Events

Spring 2026 Oxford Seminar in the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

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Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the Spring 2026 series of the Oxford Seminar in the History of Alchemy and Chemistry. Please find the programme below.

Oxford Seminar in the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

Convenors: Ellen Hausner (Oxford), Sergei Zotov (Warburg), and Jo Hedesan (Oxford)

The meetings take place between 3 pm and 5 pm at the Maison Française d’Oxford.  

13 May 2026

Session 1 — Life and Nature in Early Modern Alchemy
Chair: Sergei Zotov (Warburg Institute)

Oana Matei (Western University of Arad): Can Life Rise from Ashes? Discussions on the Possibility of the Palingenesis of Plants in the Seventeenth Century

Xinyi Wen (Warburg Institute): Cosmos or Coitus? A Copy Census of Oswald Croll’s Basilica Chymica, 1609–1690



20 May 2026

Session 2 — Spiritual Foundations of Alchemy
Chair: Ellen Hausner (Oxford)

Mark Edwards (Oxford): Ancient Alchemy as Philosophy

Charles Burnett (Warburg Institute): Alchemy as Divination

3 June 2026

Session 3 — Computational History of Alchemy and Chemistry
Chair: Rob Iliffe (Oxford)

Vojtěch Kaše (University of West Bohemia, Plzeň), and Sarah Lang (Max Planck Institute, Berlin): Tracing the Histories of Early Modern Conceptual Ecosystems: Remote Sensing Methods for the Archaeology of Alchemical Knowledge

Guillermo Restrepo (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig): Computational History of Chemistry: How Big Data Illuminates Macrohistorical Trends and Microhistorical Events

Best wishes,

Sergei Zotov

March Online Seminar “Defending the New Chemistry: The Columbian Chemical Society of Philadelphia, c. 1811-13”

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Professor John C. Powers (Virginia Commonwealth University) will present
Defending the New Chemistry: The Columbian Chemical Society of Philadelphia, c. 1811-13
This will be live on Thursday, 26 March 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.

From this seminar we are changing the system for registering to attend the event. To register please e-mail meetings@ambix.org with ‘SHAC on-line seminar’ in the subject line. You will then be sent a Zoom link on the morning of the seminar.

The seminar will be also accessible live on YouTube at:

https://youtube.com/live/ImYxiaJiNOQ?feature=share 

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

Defending the New Chemistry: The Columbian Chemical Society of Philadelphia, c. 1811-13

John C. Powers

During the first decade of the 19th Century, several tenets of Lavoisier’s antiphlogistic chemistry had come under serious scrutiny through the work of Thomas Thomson, Humphry Davy and other British chemists.  Details of this work quickly crossed the Atlantic and became a topic of discussion and debate among American chemists and physicians.  In Philadelphia, two Professors of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, James Woodhouse (prof. 1795-1809) and John Redman Coxe (prof. 1809-18) embraced the British critiques of the new chemistry and exposed the new chemistry’s weaknesses to their students.  Coxe, in fact, published a book, Observations on Combustion and Acidification (1811) in which, following suggestions from Davy, he advocated a return to a version of the phlogiston theory.

In a curious twist, many chemistry and medical students in Philadelphia did not support their professors’ critical approach to the new chemistry.  In 1811 students founded the Columbian Chemical Society of Philadelphia, an organization which provided an outlet for them to present their own practical work in chemistry as well as refute claims which undermined Lavoisier’s views.  This talk will examine some of the papers by these students, who went on to have careers as prominent chemists or physicians, such as Thomas D. Mitchell, Franklin Bache, and James Cutbush, and provide some context regarding the ongoing debate over the new chemistry in the United States. 

Best wishes

Frank James

Chair SHAC

Online Seminar: Michael Bycroft, Gems and the Crafts in the Chemical Revolution

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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.

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-michael-bycroft-university-of-warwick/e-zkzlqg

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.

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

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.

Oxford talk: Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent on Michel Serres

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‘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?

https://mfo.web.ox.ac.uk/event/shac-spring-meeting-remembering-bill-brock-chemistry-and-culture