Article ID: CBB001212003

Green is the Colour: St. Petersburg's Chemical Laboratories and Competing Visions of Chemistry in the Eighteenth Century (2013)

unapi

Werrett, Simon (Author)


Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
Volume: 60, no. 2
Issue: 2
Pages: 122-138


Publication Date: 2013
Edition Details: Part of a special issue, “Sites of Chemistry in the Eighteenth Century.”
Language: English

Histories of chemistry in eighteenth-century Russia have often ignored or downplayed the scientific character of chemical sites, treating the chemical laboratory of M.V. Lomonosov in St. Petersburg's Imperial Academy of Sciences as the definitive site of Russian chemistry. This essay surveys a variety of Russian medical, military, and academic institutions as chemical sites, and suggests that dividing them up as scientific or non-scientific sites, as Lomonosov sought to, is unhelpful, as many were integrated and engaged in connected enterprises. A case study then shows how the setting of Russian court society provoked competition within the network of Russian chemical sites. Competition led Lomonosov to urge a sharp division of labour between chemical artisanry and chemical science, forging a distinction that historians of Russian chemical sites have often reproduced subsequently.

...More

Description “Surveys a variety of Russian medical, military, and academic institutions as chemical sites, [showing] how the setting of Russian court society provoked competition [among them].” (from the abstract)


Included in

Article Perkins, John (2013) Sites of Chemistry in the Eighteenth Century. Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (pp. 95-98). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001212003/

Similar Citations

Article Brooks, Nathan M.; (2004)
Chemistry Laboratories in Russia, 1700-1917 (/isis/citation/CBB000501298/)

Chapter Simon Werrett; (2018)
Household Oeconomy and Chemical Inquiry (/isis/citation/CBB257805545/)

Article Rice, Richard E.; (2002)
Hydrating Ions in St. Petersburg and Moscow; Ignoring Them in Leipzig and Baltimore (/isis/citation/CBB000740531/)

Book Alferov, Zh. I.; (2003)
Akademicheskaia nauka v Sankt-Peterburge v XVIII-XX vekakh: istoricheskie ocherki (/isis/citation/CBB000750375/)

Article Smagina, G. I.; (2006)
The First Orders Awarded to St. Petersburg Academicians (/isis/citation/CBB000930315/)

Article Laurel Smith-Doerr; Itai Vardi; (March 2015)
Mind the Gap: Formal Ethics Policies and Chemical Scientists’ Everyday Practices in Academia and Industry (/isis/citation/CBB114416720/)

Chapter Delbourgo, James; (2009)
Fugitive Colours: Shamans' Knowledge, Chemical Empire and Atlantic Revolutions (/isis/citation/CBB000954199/)

Article Perkins, John; (2013)
Sites of Chemistry in the Eighteenth Century (/isis/citation/CBB001212001/)

Chapter Tadday, Ronny; Frercks, Jan; (2007)
Scherer in Weimar. Das Scheitern als außeruniversitärer Chemiker (/isis/citation/CBB001020613/)

Article Ute Frietsch; (2021)
Making University Fields for Chymistry: A Case Study of Helmstedt University (/isis/citation/CBB349095431/)

Article Kaiserfeld, Thomas; (2012)
Why New Hybrid Organizations Are Formed: Historical Perspectives on Epistemic and Academic Drift (/isis/citation/CBB001211969/)

Authors & Contributors
Werrett, Simon
Vogel, Jakob
Viel, Claude
Vardi, Itai
Tadday, Ronny
Smith-Doerr, Laurel
Concepts
Chemistry
Laboratories
Societies; institutions; academies
Geographical studies of science
Case studies
Research institutes; research stations
Time Periods
18th century
19th century
20th century
17th century
20th century, early
21st century
Places
Russia
St. Petersburg (Russia)
Germany
Antarctica
Madrid (Spain)
French Guiana
Institutions
Herzog August Bibliothek
St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Habsburg, House of
Rossiiskaia Akademiia Nauk
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment