Gehennical Fire: The Lives of George Starkey, an American Alchemist in the Scientific Revolution - Paperback

by William R. Newman (Author)

Front Jacket

Both the quest for natural knowledge and the aspiration to alchemical wisdom played crucial roles in the Scientific Revolution, as William R. Newman demonstrates in this fascinating book about George Starkey (1628-1665), America's first famous scientist. Beginning with Starkey's unusual education in colonial New England, Newman traces out his many interconnected careers--natural philosopher, alchemist, chemist, medical practitioner, economic projector, and creator of the fabulous adept, Eirenaeus Philalethes. Newman reveals the profound impact Starkey had on the work of Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Samuel Hartlib, and other key thinkers in the realm of early modern science.

Back Jacket

Both the quest for natural knowledge and the aspiration to alchemical wisdom played crucial roles in the Scientific Revolution, as William R. Newman demonstrates in this fascinating book about George Starkey (1628-1665), America's first famous scientist. Beginning with Starkey's unusual education in colonial New England, Newman traces out his many interconnected careers--natural philosopher, alchemist, chemist, medical practitioner, economic projector, and creator of the fabulous adept, "Eirenaeus Philalethes." Newman reveals the profound impact Starkey had on the work of Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Samuel Hartlib, and other key thinkers in the realm of early modern science.

Author Biography

William R. Newman is a professor of history of science at Indiana University. He is the author of The Summa Perfectionis of Pseudo-Geber: A Critical Edition, Translation and Study and coauthor of Alchemy Tried in the Fire: Starkey, Boyle, and the Fate of Helmontian Chymistry, the latter published by the University of Chicago Press.