NANS7017 NANO2/CH2: History of Science: Alchemy as a Predecessor of Modern Chemistry (JSS35) (1 op)

Although often misunderstood as a kind of magic or superstition, alchemy is now recognized by historians as an important contributor to the development of modern science. We now know that alchemists based their work on empirically-derived theories of matter, established principles central for modern chemistry, stressed the power of human abilities to imitate and exceed natural processes, and helped establish an experimental approach to nature. This course will cover the history of alchemy in Europe from its establishment as a Latin science in the Late Middle Ages through its multiple developments down to the Scientific Revolution. It will examine the theoretical and practical content of alchemy, both its metallic (for example, the search for the philosophers’ stone and goldmaking) and its medical dimensions. We will explore how and why alchemists came to believe what they did, and how they were viewed by their contemporaries. Alchemists often wrote in a coded and secret language, and we will work to decipher their often-strange writings and imagery in order to understand their thinking and experiences. A special feature will be the lecturer’s presentation of his own experimental reconstructions of alchemical processes. The alchemical pursuits and ideas of both little-known and famous figures (such as Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton) will be studied, as well as alchemy’s “transmutation” into chemistry, highlighting what the emergence of modern chemistry owes to alchemy.   

Students will learn

-- the worldview of the alchemists and how it was justified

-- how organized theories can emerge from experience and experiment

-- the alchemical origins of fundamental chemical principles

-- how scientific developments are often guided by “non-scientific” factors

-- how to contextualize scientific ideas in their historical place

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