Atoms and Alchemy: Chymistry and the Experimental Origins of the Scientific Revolution

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. Newman—a historian widely credited for reviving recent interest in alchemy—exposes the speciousness of these views and challenges widely held beliefs about the origins of the Scientific Revolution.

Tracing the alchemical roots of Robert Boyle’s famous mechanical philosophy, Newm...