Modern Alchemy

Author : Mark Morrisson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780198041924
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Modern Alchemy written by Mark Morrisson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-04-19 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alchemists are generally held to be the quirky forefathers of science, blending occultism with metaphysical pursuits. Although many were intelligent and well-intentioned thinkers, the oft-cited goals of alchemy paint these antiquated experiments as wizardry, not scientific investigation. Whether seeking to produce a miraculous panacea or struggling to transmute lead into gold, the alchemists radical goals held little relevance to consequent scientific pursuits. Thus, the temptation is to view the transition from alchemy to modern science as one that discarded fantastic ideas about philosophers stones and magic potions in exchange for modest yet steady results. It has been less noted, however, that the birth of atomic science actually coincided with an efflorescence of occultism and esoteric religion that attached deep significance to questions about the nature of matter and energy. Mark Morrisson challenges the widespread dismissal of alchemy as a largely insignificant historical footnote to science by prying into the revival of alchemy and its influence on the emerging subatomic sciences of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Morrisson demonstrates its surprising influence on the emerging subatomic sciences of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Specifically, Morrisson examines the resurfacing of occult circles during this time period and how their interest in alchemical tropes had a substantial and traceable impact upon the science of the day. Modern Alchemy chronicles several encounters between occult conceptions of alchemy and the new science, describing how academic chemists, inspired by the alchemy revival, attempted to transmute the elements; to make gold. Examining scientists publications, correspondence, talks, and laboratory notebooks as well as the writings of occultists, alchemical tomes, and science-fiction stories, he argues that during the birth of modern nuclear physics, the trajectories of science and occultism---so often considered antithetical---briefly merged.

Author : Wilfried B. Holzapfel
Publisher : epubli
ISBN 13 : 3741869333
Total Pages : 606 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Modern Alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone written by Wilfried B. Holzapfel and published by epubli. This book was released on 2016-11-22 with total page 606 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While preparing to carve an unusual sculpture from a stump in his front yard, a professor of physics is interrupted by two first-year students at the university where he teaches. When the students ask him about his project, the professor describes the future sculpture as a three-dimensional representation of the way a sample of each chemical element reacts when high pressure is applied to it. That is not at all what the students were expecting to hear. They somewhat reluctantly agree to sign up for a consultation hour with the professor so that he can explain the concept in greater detail. When the professor describes his research in the area of high-pressure solid-state-physics as "modern alchemy", the students are hooked! One of them has been contemplating a career in science or technology, the other is planning to concentrate on liberal arts and philosophy. This appears to be a unique opportunity that offers something for each of them and a chance to expand their common knowledge and friendship. The professor and the students review the history of medieval alchemy as the basis for modern science. They compare the challenges faced by the ancient philosophers to the obstacles of modern scientists. He introduces the students to his version of a modern alchemist's "philosopher's stone", a device with which he is able to change the properties of the elements and make them take on different character. He leads this students on exploratory "journeys" across the Periodic Table of the Elements. They compare the different behavior and discover new relationships. The students converse about the "mystical" modern ideas that the professor introduces along the way; e.g., quantum chemistry and physics. He never resorts to formal, mathematical theory in their circumnavigation of the "world of high pressure". In the end, the students feel "enlightened" in the true alchemical sense, ready for their own journey into the modern world of science and philosophy.

Author : Dorothy Fisk
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 204 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Modern Alchemy written by Dorothy Fisk and published by . This book was released on 1936 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : William Albert Noyes
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.35/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Modern Alchemy written by William Albert Noyes and published by . This book was released on 1932 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Dennis William Hauck
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 9781592577354
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Alchemy written by Dennis William Hauck and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-04 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than magic... Where else can one combine chemistry and philosophy to turn base metal into gold while discovering a magical elixir to prolong life? Here's a simple and straightforward guide to alchemy that explains its basic principles. Written by one of the world's few practicing alchemists, it's a concise reference guide that provides easy-to-follow information so that anybody can be a wizard-in-training.

Author : Mark Morrisson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190294493
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.96/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Modern Alchemy written by Mark Morrisson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-04-19 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alchemists are generally held to be the quirky forefathers of science, blending occultism with metaphysical pursuits. Although many were intelligent and well-intentioned thinkers, the oft-cited goals of alchemy paint these antiquated experiments as wizardry, not scientific investigation. Whether seeking to produce a miraculous panacea or struggling to transmute lead into gold, the alchemists radical goals held little relevance to consequent scientific pursuits. Thus, the temptation is to view the transition from alchemy to modern science as one that discarded fantastic ideas about philosophers stones and magic potions in exchange for modest yet steady results. It has been less noted, however, that the birth of atomic science actually coincided with an efflorescence of occultism and esoteric religion that attached deep significance to questions about the nature of matter and energy. Mark Morrisson challenges the widespread dismissal of alchemy as a largely insignificant historical footnote to science by prying into the revival of alchemy and its influence on the emerging subatomic sciences of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Morrisson demonstrates its surprising influence on the emerging subatomic sciences of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Specifically, Morrisson examines the resurfacing of occult circles during this time period and how their interest in alchemical tropes had a substantial and traceable impact upon the science of the day. Modern Alchemy chronicles several encounters between occult conceptions of alchemy and the new science, describing how academic chemists, inspired by the alchemy revival, attempted to transmute the elements; to make gold. Examining scientists publications, correspondence, talks, and laboratory notebooks as well as the writings of occultists, alchemical tomes, and science-fiction stories, he argues that during the birth of modern nuclear physics, the trajectories of science and occultism---so often considered antithetical---briefly merged.

Author : Tara Nummedal
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226608573
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire written by Tara Nummedal and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What distinguished the true alchemist from the fraud? This question animated the lives and labors of the common men—and occasionally women—who made a living as alchemists in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Holy Roman Empire. As purveyors of practical techniques, inventions, and cures, these entrepreneurs were prized by princely patrons, who relied upon alchemists to bolster their political fortunes. At the same time, satirists, artists, and other commentators used the figure of the alchemist as a symbol for Europe’s social and economic ills. Drawing on criminal trial records, contracts, laboratory inventories, satires, and vernacular alchemical treatises, Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire situates the everyday alchemists, largely invisible to modern scholars until now, at the center of the development of early modern science and commerce. Reconstructing the workaday world of entrepreneurial alchemists, Tara Nummedal shows how allegations of fraud shaped their practices and prospects. These debates not only reveal enormously diverse understandings of what the “real” alchemy was and who could practice it; they also connect a set of little-known practitioners to the largest questions about commerce, trust, and intellectual authority in early modern Europe.

Author : Lawrence Principe
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226682951
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Secrets of Alchemy written by Lawrence Principe and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alchemy, the Noble Art, conjures up scenes of mysterious, dimly lit laboratories populated with bearded old men stirring cauldrons. Though the history of alchemy is intricately linked to the history of chemistry, alchemy has nonetheless often been dismissed as the realm of myth and magic, or fraud and pseudoscience. And while its themes and ideas persist in some expected and unexpected places, from the Philosopher's (or Sorcerer's) Stone of Harry Potter to the self-help mantra of transformation, there has not been a serious, accessible, and up-to-date look at the complete history and influence of alchemy until now.

Author : Mike A. Zuber
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190073047
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Spiritual Alchemy written by Mike A. Zuber and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book traces the continued existence of the spiritual alchemy of rebirth in heterodox and specifically Boehmist circles from around 1600 to the early twentieth century. The basic claim of continuity from Boehme to Atwood argued here is not new. A particularly apt expression may be found in F. Sherwood Taylor's The Alchemists of 1949, in which the founding editor of Ambix notes 'the existence of a school of mystical alchemists whose purpose was self-regeneration.' With Boehme as an important early exponent, this 'tendency culminated in 1850' with Atwood's Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery. Taylor's statement, it turns out, could hardly have been more accurate yet has so far lacked the support of a comprehensive presentation. This led Principe and Newman to describe such claims of continuity regarding spiritual alchemy as mere 'conjecture' without 'clear historical evidence.' This book marshals that hitherto elusive evidence, much of it found in obscure manuscript sources, and thus documents the continuity of spiritual alchemy that links the early-modern to the modern era"--

Author : William Albert Noyes
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781258042219
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Modern Alchemy written by William Albert Noyes and published by . This book was released on 2011-06-01 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: