Modern Alchemy

Modern Alchemy
Author: Mark Morrisson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2007-04-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0190294493


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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.


Modern Alchemy
Language: en
Pages: 272
Authors: Mark Morrisson
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2007-04-19 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

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Alchemists are generally held to be the quirky forefathers of science, blending occultism with metaphysical pursuits. Although many were intelligent and well-in
Modern Alchemy
Language: en
Pages: 273
Authors: Mark Morrisson
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2007-04-19 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

GET EBOOK

Alchemists are generally held to be the quirky forefathers of science, blending occultism with metaphysical pursuits. Although many were intelligent and well-in
Modern Alchemy
Language: en
Pages: 728
Authors: Glenn Theodore Seaborg
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 1994 - Publisher: World Scientific

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During his distinguished career spanning more than 50 years, Nobel laureate (Chemistry) Glenn T Seaborg published over 500 works. This volume puts together abou
Modern Alchemy and the Philosopher's Stone
Language: en
Pages: 606
Authors: Wilfried B. Holzapfel
Categories: Art
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-11-22 - Publisher: epubli

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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
Daughters of Alchemy
Language: en
Pages: 302
Authors: Meredith K. Ray
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-04-06 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

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Meredith Ray shows that women were at the vanguard of empirical culture during the Scientific Revolution. They experimented with medicine and alchemy at home an