June 3-4, 2021  Registration link

Please note that the schedule reflects U.S. Eastern Time. 

THURSDAY, JUNE 3rd 

9:30-10:00 | INTRODUCTIONS 

10:00-10:50 | CONCEALING GENDERED KNOWLEDGE 

Natacha Klein Käfer, Private Spaces, Secret Practices: Gender and Concealment in  Alchemical Laboratories under Anna and August of Saxony 

Lara Tessaro, Beauty secrets: uncovering the estrogenic roots of Canadian cosmetic  labelling regulations, 1943-44 

Grace Poudrier and Lauren Richter, PFAS Ubiquity as Corporate Accomplishment

[break: 20 min] 

11:10-12:00 | ICONS AND CIPHERS 

Sergei Zotov, The biggest secret of Newton: alchemical iconography of Coronatio  naturae 

Marlis Hinckley, Secrecy in Pseudo-Lull: The Use of Letter Codes

Megan Piorko and Sarah Lang, Sloane MS 1902 Alchemical Cipher

12:00-1:00 | KEYNOTE, Nancy Langston

FRIDAY, JUNE 4th 

10:00-10:50 | PATENTS, PROFITS, AND INVENTIONS 

Andrew Meade McGee, Open Labs Versus Proprietary Methods: Secrecy,  Information Networks, and the Evolution of an Institutional Chemical Research  Infrastructure in the First Five Decades of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research 

Vyta Pivo, The Alchemy of Concrete: The Making and Unmaking of Material History 

Alison McManus, Who Invented Agent Orange?: Priority Disputes in the Aftermath  of Wartime Secrecy 

10:50-11:40 | RULES AND RESIDUES 

Jayson Porter, As if: Furtive Arsenic (As) from Extraction to Exposure 

Jack Klempay, Residues at the Limits of Chemical Knowledge: The Case of  Chlordecone Contamination in Martinique and Guadeloupe 

Colleen Lanier Christensen, Toxic Rules?: Standardized Chemical Knowledge and the  Limits of Regulatory Action 

[break: 20 min] 

12:00-1:00 | KEYNOTE: Michelle Murphy 

1:00-1:30 | CLOSING REMARKS

The SHAC Award Scheme for 2020 funded seven applicants.

Six Research Awards were made.

Georgiana Hedesan, Independent Scholar, research trip to the University of Glasgow to explore Alchemy in Antonio Neri’s manuscript Il Tesoro del Mondo (1598-1600).

Joris Mercelis, John Hopkins University, research trip to Rochester New York to study written and visual sources in the Kodak Historical Collection.

Luis Moreno-Martinez, University of Valencia, research trips for “A transnational approach to chemistry pedagogy through the biography of Antonio García-Banús (1888-1955).”

Silvia Perez Criado, PhD Student, University of Valencia, archival research for dissertation “DDT during Franco’s regime in Spain (1939-1977).”

Zoe Screti, PhD Student, University of Birmingham, archival research trip for dissertation “The Impact of the Reformation on the study of alchemy in Early Modern England.”

Robert Van Den Berg, Independent Scholar, image reproduction costs for biography of the Dutch Physical Chemist, J.H. van’t Hoff.

In addition, one Subject Development Award for conferences or the like was approved as follows: 

Peter Forshaw, University of Amsterdam, workshop on Rosicrucian and Masonic Alchemy.

It is with pleasure that I am able to announce that Lyke de Vries (PhD candidate, Radboud University Nijmegen) will take over my duties in maintaining the content of this website. Please address any information on events or other relevant matters you would like to see advertised here to her at contenteditor [AT] ambix.org.

The Council and SHAC as a whole are very grateful for her willingness to step forward in this regard, and we wish her all the best for her work in keeping the website up to date as well as for her PhD research.

Members are invited to note that the trustees annual report and annual accounts for 2015 have been posted online and may be accessed using the links on the About page.

Until 31 May 2016, it is now possible to apply for awards of up to £500 through the SHAC Award Scheme. To view the call for applications, please click here. To learn more about the SHAC Award Scheme generally, please refer to our grants section.