Category Archives: Chemistry

Newton’s Alchemy and early Geochemistry

Posted on March 17, 2013 by

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is today remembered for his contributions to optics, mechanics and gravity, but as a typical polymath of his time he was also interested in alchemy. And through his interest in this early predecessor of chemistry he … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemistry, Geology, Philosophy | Leave a comment

Touching and feeling: Henry Moyes redux

Posted on November 22, 2011 by

I have received several suggestions about what the natural philosopher Henry Moyes was holding in the portrait I showed in my last post. I posted some further thoughts on these, another image of Moyes and a fascinating account of his … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Chemistry, History | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

When did what end?

Posted on February 27, 2011 by

One of the advantages of this blog is that many of those who comment here are more intelligent, better read, better informed and better educated than the blog author, this means that in their comments they question, provoke and suggest … Continue reading →

Posted in Astrology, astronomy, Chemistry, History | Leave a comment

Exploded systems: views of alchemy in the 19th century

Posted on November 14, 2010 by

As has been highlighted in previous posts, we historians of science are on our guard against being whiggish in our discussions of past science but, in the process, have a tendency to be just that in our treatment of historiography: we … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemistry, History | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

David Willetts and the history of science

Posted on October 7, 2010 by

There has been an interesting discussion on Mersenne, the history of science listserv, prompted by James Sumner, who has kindly allowed me to post his email to the Mersenne subscribers. Dear Listmembers  Those of us keen, for whatever reason, to gauge … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemistry, History | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Chymistry and Natural Philosophy Follow-Up

Posted on September 8, 2010 by

At my blog Ether Wave Propaganda, I posted in May on an ongoing dispute between Indiana historian Bill Newman and Flinders U. philosopher Alan Chalmers over the “chymistry” of Robert Boyle (1627-1691) and its relationship to his vision of experimental … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemistry, History | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments