The Age of Alchemy

How Early Innovators Shaped Modern Chemistry

By: Kit Chapman

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Hardcover | 11 August 2026

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Hardcover
320 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.8 x 15.8 x 3.0

Hardcover

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Conventional wisdom tells us that chemistry was 'invented' in the eighteenth century. In truth, it emerged gradually over the course of thousands of years, as scientific knowledge was discovered, collected, lost, rediscovered and refined.

The first chemists were Sri Lankan steel forgers in the first century BCE; alchemists in third-century Egypt; herbalists in seventh-century China. Whether attempting to transform base metals into gold, cure disease or achieve immortality, these earliest figures blurred science and mysticism in search of answers.

Science writer Kit Chapman criss-crosses the globe to uncover chemistry's debts to these earliest innovators, revealing the illuminating story of how they broke new ground and shaped the scientific method.

PRAISE FOR KIT CHAPMAN:
'This deeply researched and engaging tour of the nether reaches of the periodic table will delight and inform everyone' - Philip Ball
'With meticulous attention to detail and careful research, Chapman masterfully captures the excitement, politics and competition of the transuranic elements' - Jess Wade
'Chapman writes engagingly about the benefits motor racing has brought to a climate problem that needs all hands on the wheel' - Financial Times

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