num_pages: 235
description: Since the Enlightenment alchemy has been viewed as a sort of antiscience disparaged by many historians as a form of lunacy that impeded the development of rational chemistry. But in Atoms and Alchemy William R. Newmana historian widely credited for reviving recent interest in alchemyexposes the speciousness of these views and challenges widely held beliefs about the origins of the Scientific Revolution. Tracing the alchemical roots of Robert Boyles famous mechanical philosophy Newman shows that alchemy contributed to the mechanization of nature a movement that lay at the very heart of scientific discovery. Boyle and his predecessorsfigures like the mysterious medieval Geber or the Lutheran professor Daniel Sennertprovided convincing experimental proof that matter is made up of enduring particles at the microlevel. At the same time Newman argues that alchemists created the operational criterion of an atomic element as the last point of analysis thereby contributing a key feature to the development of later chemistry. Atomsand Alchemy thus provokes a refreshing debate about the origins of modern science and will be welcomedand deliberatedby all who are interested in the development of scientific theory and practice.
language: English
title: Atoms and Alchemy: Chymistry and the Experimental Origins of the Scientific Revolution
publisher: University of Chicago Press