What has long been seen as a deluded effort to turn base metals into gold is being reassessed by researchers as a serious precursor to chemistry in which women were heavily involved. About 20 years ...

To most people, the word "alchemist" conjures an image of a dank, medieval laboratory with a bearded initiate pursuing the futile, magical ambition to convert lead into gold. But not to those at the ...

Within a 20-minute walk from Notre Dame Cathedral, in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, is the oldest house in the city: the house of Nicolas Flamel. If the name rings a vague bell, perhaps it’s ...

Can alchemy be described as a protoscience? Do ancient texts with obscure formulas and procedures describe mystic rituals and allegoric visions? Or do they record instructions to carry out real ...

Re-creating the evolution of science. Charlatans peddling elixirs to medieval monarchs, fraudulent claims of transmutation into gold, and the futile search for the "philosopher's stone": these are ...

What secret alchemical knowledge could be so important it required sophisticated encryption? The setting was Amsterdam, 2019. A conference organized by the Society for the History of Alchemy and ...