AD HOC (Association for the Discussion of the History of Chemistry) is a group dedicated to the history of chemistry. While our main focus is historical, we also consider the philosophical, sociological, public and educational dimensions of chemistry.
AD HOC has been meeting in various configurations since the summer of 2004, first at UCL and then also in Cambridge since 2010. Since 2008 our activities have been generously supported by the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC).
This term we will alternate between online and in-person meetings, on Mondays 5.00–6.30pm. The in-person meetings will be in Seminar Room 1. The links for joining the online meetings, the exact specification or copies of the readings, and all updates on future activities will be circulated to the mailing list of the group. If you would like to be on the list please email Hasok Chang (hc372@cam.ac.uk).
Lent Term 2023
23 January (in person)
Discussion of Joachim Schummer, 'The Rise of the "Mad Scientist"', in A Cultural History of Chemistry, vol. 5 (Bloomsbury, 2022)
30 January (online)
Catherine Jackson (University of Oxford), discussion of Molecular World, introduction and ch. 4
6 February (in person)
Jennifer Rampling (Princeton University), discussion of 'The Alchemical Image in the Islamic and Christian Middle Ages', in A Cultural History of Chemistry, vol. 2 (Bloomsbury, 2022)
13 February (in person)
Reading TBC, from A Cultural History of Chemistry
20 February (in person)
Reading TBC, from A Cultural History of Chemistry
27 February
No meeting, due to UCU strike
6 March (in person)
Reading TBC, from A Cultural History of Chemistry
13 March (online)
Gary Patterson (Carnegie Mellon University) and Carmen Schmechel (Freie Universität Berlin), discussion of 'A Taxonomy of Transdictions: Crystallography and Iconic Transdiction in Haüy's Mineralogy'