Ambix最新文献

{"title":"Amateur Science and Innovation in Fireworks in Nineteenth-Century Europe.","authors":"Barry Sturman,&nbsp;David Garrioch","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2201743","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2201743","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The categories of \"amateur\" and \"professional\" remain central in studies on the sociology of nineteenth-century science. This article joins a growing body of literature that points out the complicated and intersecting connections between these two groups and how blurred the boundaries could be. This study focuses on pyrotechny, the art of fireworks, a field of far more obvious importance in the nineteenth century than it is today. Firework displays were mounted by artisan firework makers, who by the end of the century had become industrialists, and by military specialists, usually artillerymen. They had also become a common amateur pursuit. Across the nineteenth century, the art was transformed by the introduction of new materials, and the key discoveries were the work of enthusiasts who did not seek to profit financially from their discoveries. In this sense, they too were amateurs, although some had a scientific education. This article asks how they were able to make such major contributions to the field, and it situates them within networks that often crossed the boundaries between those who made fireworks for a living, or who studied them in military contexts, and those who were simple enthusiasts.</p>","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9511291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Partington Prize 2023.","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2197328","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2197328","url":null,"abstract":"The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2023 Partington Prize is Dr Armel Cornu of the Science History Institute for her entry “Senses and utility in the New Chemistry.” Armel Cornu is a postdoctoral researcher at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia. She majored in chemistry and history before graduating with a masters degree in the history of science at Université Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris. She obtained her doctorate at the University of Uppsala in 2022 with a dissertation centring on the market, regulation, and science of mineral waters in eighteenth-century France. Her research is characterised by a social and economic approach to the development of chemistry throughout the Enlightenment. She currently works on the uses of sensorial impressions in the practice and perception of eighteenth-century chemistry. The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry established the Partington Prize in memory of Professor James Riddick Partington, the Society’s first Chairman. It is awarded every three years for an original and unpublished essay on any aspect of the history of alchemy or chemistry. The prize-winning article will appear in the Society’s journal, Ambix, in due course.","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9872049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"George E. Davis: Editing the <i>Chemical Trade Journal</i>, 1887-1906.","authors":"Peter Reed","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2201747","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2201747","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article explores George Davis's editing of the <i>Chemical Trades Journal</i> (<i>CTJ</i>) between 1887 and 1906, a period during which he was also working as a consultant chemist and consultant chemical engineer. Davis had worked from 1870 in various sectors of the chemical industry before becoming a sub-inspector in the Alkali Inspectorate between 1878 and 1884. It was during this period that the British chemical industry was facing severe economic pressure and to remain competitive was having to adapt to less wasteful and more efficient production. Drawing on this wide industrial experience, Davis developed a framework for chemical engineering with the broad aim of making chemical manufacture as economic as the latest science and technology would allow. Several important issues are raised by Davis's editorship of the weekly <i>CTJ</i> alongside his extensive consultancy work and other responsibilities: Davis's motivation given the likely impact on his consultancy work; the community the <i>CTJ</i> hoped to serve; competitive periodicals addressing the same market niche; the degree of focus on his chemical engineering framework; the changing content of the <i>CTJ</i>; and Davis's role as editor over a period of nearly twenty years.</p>","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9506957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Magic, Science, and Religion in Early Modern Europe","authors":"Vaibhav Pathak","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2205214","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2205214","url":null,"abstract":"women who dipped into natural philosophy. Findlen also probes Erculiani’s decision to publish her book in Krakow, discussing the intellectual connections between Padua and Poland and suggesting that Erculiani might have been trying to avoid running afoul of the Inquisition (unsuccessfully, if so). Letters on Natural Philosophy provides an exciting addition to early modern women’s medico-scientific works available to an English-speaking audience. Hannah Marcus’s skilful and highly readable translations make the difficult Italian and Latin texts accessible to English readers, and the book should be suitable for university students of all levels. While the introductory materials rightly situate Erculiani in her Italian context, her case also provokes questions about gender and female authorship in early modern Europe more broadly. For example, there are many parallels with the story of Oliva Sabuco, the daughter of a Spanish physician under whose name two philosophical works on medicine appeared in 1587 and who also ran into trouble with the Inquisition. This confluence raises complex questions about women’s eagerness to make an intellectual contribution in early modern Europe and the power of religious authorities to silence them. The sixteenth-century fate of Letters on Natural Philosophy is hardly uplifting. Investigated by the Inquisition, Erculiani was forced to defend her book against suspicions of heresy. Although she does not appear to have been formally charged, she also did not publish again. Her book was never placed on the Catholic Church’s Index of Condemned Books, but, as Caranci points out, this was likely because it was not viewed as influential enough to pose a threat. Nevertheless, the fact that Erculiani felt empowered to publish her Letters demonstrates the great energy among educated Italian women at the end of the Renaissance. Women writers who followed Erculiani, such as Moderata Fonte and Lucrezia Manella, echoed her views on women’s intellect with more success. Although Erculiani was prevented from making a broader impact with her book, her work deserves to be known, and the combined efforts of Carinci, Findlen, and Marcus bring her story to modern English readers in magnificent detail.","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46046132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Cultural History of Chemistry","authors":"Tillmann Taape","doi":"10.5040/9781474203746","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474203746","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45207429","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Cultural History of Chemistry in Antiquity (vol. 1)","authors":"Olivier Dufault","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2186577","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2186577","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45350858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Nineteenth Century (vol. 5)","authors":"Hasok Chang","doi":"10.5040/9781474203791","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474203791","url":null,"abstract":"A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Nineteenth Century covers the period from 1815 to 1914 and the birth of modern chemistry. The elaboration of atomic theory - and new ideas of periodicity, structure, bonding, and equilibrium - emerged in tandem with new instruments and practices. The chemical industry expanded exponentially, fuelled by an increasing demand for steel, aluminium, dyestuffs, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods. And the chemical laboratory became established in its two distinct modern settings of the university and industry. At the turn of the century, the discovery of radioactivity took hold of the public imagination, drawing chemistry closer to physics, even as it threatened to undermine the whole concept of atomism.\u0000 The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Chemistry presents the first comprehensive history from the Bronze Age to today, covering all forms and aspects of chemistry and its ever-changing social context. The themes covered in each volume are theory and concepts; practice and experiment; laboratories and technology; culture and science; society and environment; trade and industry; learning and institutions; art and representation.","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41454081","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Nineteenth Century (vol. 5)","authors":"Hasok Chang","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2186584","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2186584","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size This article is part of the following collections: A Cultural History of Chemistry","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135488547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Modern Age (vol. 6)","authors":"Evan Hepler-Smith","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2186585","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2186585","url":null,"abstract":"A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Modern Age covers the period from 1914 to the present. The impact of chemistry and the chemical industry on science, war, society, and the economy has made this era the “Chemical Age”. Having prospered in the West, chemical science spread across the globe and slowly became more diversified in terms of its ethnic and gendered mix. After flourishing for sixty years, the chemical industry was impacted by the Oil Crisis of the 1970s and became almost invisible in the West. While the industry has clearly delivered many benefits to society—such as new materials and better drugs—it has been excoriated by critics for its impact on the environment.\u0000 The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Chemistry presents the first comprehensive history from the Bronze Age to today, covering all forms and aspects of chemistry and its ever-changing social context. The themes covered in each volume are theory and concepts; practice and experiment; laboratories and technology; culture and science; society and environment; trade and industry; learning and institutions; art and representation.","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43454602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Early Modern Age (vol. 3)","authors":"A. Roos","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2186581","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2186581","url":null,"abstract":"A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Early Modern Age covers the period from 1500 to 1700, tracing chemical debates and practices within their cultural, social, and political contexts. This era in the history of chemistry was notable for natural philosophy, scientific discovery, and experimental method, and also as the high point of European alchemy – exemplified by the immensely popular writings of Paracelsus. Developments in the chemistry of metallurgy, medicine, distillation, and the applied arts encouraged attention to materials and techniques, linking theoretical speculation with practical know-how. Chemistry emerged as an academic discipline – supported by educational texts and based in classroom and laboratory instruction – and claimed a public place.\u0000 The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Chemistry presents the first comprehensive history from the Bronze Age to today, covering all forms and aspects of chemistry and its ever-changing social context. The themes covered in each volume are theory and concepts; practice and experiment; laboratories and technology; culture and science; society and environment; trade and industry; learning and institutions; art and representation.","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41451136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}