Early Modern Period (1450 - 1750)
Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci of a man inside a circle with outstretched arms and legs

The Brilliant, Groundbreaking, and Wildly Overrated Leonardo da Vinci

Distillations Podcast
podart 5 part 2

The African Burial Ground

Distillations Podcast
Innate episode one graphic crop

Origin Stories

Distillations Podcast
Notebook cover with marbled dye

Science in Humanities, Humanities in Science: Embedded Connections

Event
Books on display in the library

Covering Science
title page from Utriusque cosmi maioris

A Tale of Two Editions
Women cultivate sugarcane in Jamaica

Sugar: The Most Evil Molecule

Distillations Podcast
Michelle DiMeo headshot

Institute VP Michelle DiMeo to Speak at Princeton American Chemical Society Meeting
News
Black and white illustration of sailors in an open boat in a swell

William Dampier, Revered and Reviled

Distillations Article
Portrait of Issac Newton

How To Be Smarter Than Isaac Newton

Distillations Podcast
A portrait of Niccolo Paganini on his deathbed.

Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius as Written by Our Genetic Code

Distillations Podcast
Illustration of fairies around water

River Gods, Lake Monsters, and the Abiding Power of Myth

Distillations Article
Engraving of the alchemical universe 1618

Atlas Obscura: How Scholars Cracked a Medieval Alchemist’s Secret Code
Media Coverage
Engraving of a woman making paper

Chasing the Clues in Isaac Newton’s Manuscripts

Distillations Article
Alchemical emblem

The Conversation: Deciphering the Philosophers’ Stone
Media Coverage
illustrations of chimney sweeps

The ‘Mary Poppins’ Cancer

Distillations Podcast
Cartoon of a pig in a courtroom

Kangaroo (and Pig and Monkey and Dog and Donkey) Courts

Distillations Podcast
Screenshot from A Discovery of Witches TV show

What the All Souls Trilogy Teaches Us about Alchemy, Family, and Knowledge Hierarchy

Distillations Podcast

Philly Materials Day Online: Experiments for Home
Media Coverage
Image of mural by José Clemente Orozco

Let’s Get to Work: Bringing Labor History and the History of Science Together
Visit
Cover of Lady Ranelagh book by Michelle DiMeo

New Biography by Institute’s Library Director Unveils Life and Legacy of Unknown Woman Scientist
Press Release
Did van Trijp

Didi van Trijp

People
Cartoon of group of men dissecting bodies in an attic

The Anatomy Riots

Distillations Podcast
C.C. Dennis using mortar and pestle at Dearborn laboratory

Science History Institute Debuts ‘Mechanochemistry: The Science of Crush’ Digital Exhibition
Press Release
Portrait of Lady Ranelagh

Nature: An Incomparable Intellectual Who Fell through the Cracks of History
Media Coverage
Mock-up photo of a cellphone displaying a QR code

COVID-19 Health Passports: What’s Old Is New Again

Distillations Article
Photo of an old manuscript

The Newton Mess

Distillations Article
Engraving of alchemist and royalty

Dr. Butler and the Quest for the Philosophers’ Stone

Distillations Article
Genre oil painting

Quacks, Plagues, and Pandemics

Distillations Article
A man in a mine, wearing breathing apparatus and holding a lantern, finds asphyxiated miners. Wood engraving, ca. 1900.

The Alchemical Origins of Occupational Medicine

Distillations Podcast
Photo of FDR in a wheelchair

Bonus Episode: Interview with Kim Nielsen

Distillations Podcast
Catalogue image of microscopes

Science and Disability: Part 1

Distillations Podcast
Engraving showing tableau of injected vessel and infant skeletons by Frederick Ruysch,

Collecting Monstrosity

Distillations Podcast
Woodcut of medieval printers at work

Would a Book Lie?

Distillations Article
Engraved portrait of man

Paracelsus, the Alchemist Who Wed Medicine to Magic

Distillations Article
Michael Somogyi and Unidentified Women in Laboratory

Women in Science
Learn
A close up of a pop-up book

Distilled #11: A 16th-Century Pop-Up Book

Distillations Video
The Alchymist (1775), an engraving

Hennig Brandt and the Discovery of Phosphorus

Distillations Article
Science history photo collage

Love, Hate, and Sex from the History of Science

Distillations Podcast
Close up of Johannes de Sacrobosco’s astronomy textbook, De Sphaera Mundi (On the Sphere of the World).

Distilled #6: A 17th-Century (Interactive!) Astronomy Textbook

Distillations Video

Snakes and Letters

Distillations Article

Opioids’ Devastating Return

Distillations Article
Oil painting of an alchemical scene

The Masters of Nature

Distillations Article
The Alchemist and His Wife, ca. 1928, by Jacques Hammerer, after 17th-century original by David Ryckaert III.

Age of Alchemy
Museum
Letter written by 17th-century scientist Lady Ranelagh

The Almost Forgotten Story of Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh

Distillations Podcast

Fit as a Fiddle: The Remarkable Lives of Cremonese Violins

Distillations Article

Stradivari and the Search for Brilliance

Distillations Article

The Age of Scurvy

Distillations Article
Megan Piorko headshot

Megan Piorko

People
The Alchemist in His Study with a Woman Making Lace

The Art Detective

Distillations Article
A 16th-century engraving of an alchemist adding a scorpion to a mixture. (Wellcome Library)

The Language of Alchemy

Distillations Article
Walter Potter's Monkey Riding a Goat

Death and Taxidermy

Distillations Video
Tianna Uchacz

Tianna Uchacz

People
Marlise Rijks

Marlise Rijks

People
Agnieszka Rec

Agnieszka Rec

People
Ute Frietsch

Ute Frietsch

People
Jean-Olivier Richard

Jean-Olivier Richard

People
Haeckel illustration of hummingbirds

Information Overload

Distillations Article
Coloring Chemistry

Learn
Learn

The Ancient Chemistry Inside Your Taco

Distillations Video

Behind the Beaker
Research

Mark Waddell

People

Dane Thor Daniel

People
Hiro Hirai

Hiro Hirai

People
Isaac Newton alchemical manuscript

Isaac Newton and the American Alchemist

Distillations Article

Bruce Moran

People
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev

Scientific Biographies
Learn
Esperanto postcard

Speaking in Tongues

Distillations Article

Rare Books
Collections
Jim Voelkel headshot

James R. Voelkel

People
Portrait of Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle
Historical Profile

Transmutations: Alchemy in Art
Museum

Permanent Exhibition
Museum

The Whole of Nature and the Mirror of Art
Museum
Research fellow Roger Eardley-Pryor.

Research Activities
Research

Synthesis Book Series
Research
Our library collections span nearly six miles of shelves

Othmer Library
Research

Collections
Collections

Fine Art
Collections
Liber de arte distillandi de compositis

Tryals and Tribulations

Distillations Article
17th-century scientists in the lab

Science and the Supernatural in the 17th Century

Distillations Podcast

The Alchemist in His Laboratory

Distillations Video
Painting: An Alchemist’s Laboratory

Gold, Secrecy, and Prestige

Distillations Article
Recipes and Extracts on Alchemy, Medicine, Metal-Working, Cosmetics, Veterinary Science, Agriculture, Wine-Making, and Other Subjects

The Philosophers’ Stove

Distillations Article

The Secrets of Alchemy

Distillations Article
John Mayow’s “nitro-aerial particles” in action

Carried Away

Distillations Article
Title page of Boyle’s Sceptical Chymist

Alchemists, Unite!

Distillations Article
Arabic astronomers

Seek Knowledge as Far as China

Distillations Article
Ibn Butlan’s Risalat da`wat al-atibba

Al-Kimiya: Notes on Arabic Alchemy

Distillations Article