In Inventing Chemistry, historian John C. Powers turns his attention to Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738), a Dutch medical and chemical professor whose work reached a wide, educated audience and became the template for chemical knowledge in the eighteenth century. The primary focus of this study is Boerhaave’s educational philosophy, and Powers traces its development from Boerhaave’s early days as a student in Leiden through his publication of the Elementa chemiae in 1732. Powers reveals how Boerhaave restructured and reinterpreted various practices from diverse chemical traditions (including craft chemistry, Paracelsian medical chemistry, and alchemy), shaping them into a chemical course that conformed to the pedagogical and philosophical norms of Leiden University’s medical faculty. In doing so, Boerhaave gave his chemistry a coherent organizational structure and philosophical foundation and thus transformed an artisanal practice into an academic discipline. Inventing Chemistry is essential reading for historians of chemistry, medicine, and academic life.

With Eighteen Illustrations "It is neither religious nor wise to judge that of which you know nothing." A Brief Guide to the Celestial Ruby by PHILALETHES (17th century) (From Original Title Page)

Product Description: For nearly 20 years, the author, Mary Virginia Orna has led Science History tours to Europe and other parts of the world. Given the broad popularity of her tours among those in the scientific community, the ACS initiated a symposium on the topic as well as this book...read more

Product Description: Bridging Traditions explores the connections between apparently different zones of comprehension and experience magic and experiment, alchemy and mechanics, practical mathematics and geometrical mysticism, things earthy and heavenly, and especially science and medicine by focusing on points of intersection among alchemy, chemistry, and Paracelsian medical philosophy...read more

Product Description: Our world would be a much different place without the groundbreaking work of scientific visionaries such as Hennig Brand, Marie and Pierre Curie, and Antoine Lavoisier, to name a few. This volume offers readers a vivid and colorful history of chemistry, highlighting some of field's most notable discoveries...read more

Product Description: This book is a collection of essays, written by an international group of historians of chemistry, about some of the most interesting chemists dating back into the 18th century. The contributing authors are well-established biographers, and their subjects make a diverse cast of chemistry characters...read more

This book is written as a result of a personal conviction of the value of incorporating historical material into the teaching of chemistry, both at school and undergraduate level. Indeed, it is highly desirable that an undergraduate course in chemistry incorporates a separate module on the history of chemistry. This book is therefore aimed at teachers and students of chemistry, and it will also appeal to practising chemists. While the last 25 years has seen the appearance of a large number of specialist scholarly publications on the history of chemistry, there has been little written in the way of an introductory overview of the subject. This book fills that gap. It incorporates some of the results of recent research, and the text is illustrated throughout. Clearly, a book of this length has to be highly selective in its coverage, but it describes the themes and personalities which in the author's opinion have been of greatest importance in the development of the subject. The famous American historian of science, Henry Guerlac, wrote: 'It is the central business of the historian of science to reconstruct the story of the acquisition of this knowledge and the refinement of its method or methods, and-perhaps above all-to study science as a human activity and learn how it arose, how it developed and expanded, and how it has influenced or been influenced by man's material, intellectual, and even spiritual aspirations' (Guerlac, 1977). This book attempts to describe the development of chemistry in these terms.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

In this examination of the ways in which alchemy and chemistry were studied and practiced between 1400 and 1700, the author looks to determine what alchemists were doing in the context of early modern science.

Considers that Napoleon's 1812 Russian campaign may have failed because cold temperatures caused his army's tin buttons to disintegrate, identifying other important moments and traditions in history that were influenced by molecular properties. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

Describes seventeen chemical compounds in spices, textile fibers, dyes, explosives, medicines, and other substances--including the drugs that account for witches flying on broomsticks--and how they affect civilization.

An illustrated history of chemistry introduces the unique characters, sometimes bizarre theories, and novel experiments that produced the modern science.

Unravels the history of chemistry, from the ancient Greek philosophers to the Age of Enlightenment and beyond, focusing on the life of the Russian chemist who conceived the periodic table of elements marking the birth of modern chemistry.