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E-book
Author Ray, Meredith K., 1969- author.

Title Daughters of alchemy : women and scientific culture in early modern Italy / Meredith K. Ray
Published Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2015

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Description 1 online resource
Series I Tatti studies in Italian Renaissance history
I Tatti studies in Italian Renaissance history.
Contents Caterina Sforza's experiments with alchemy -- The secrets of Isabella Cortese : practical alchemy and women readers -- Scientific culture and the Renaissance querelle des femmes : moderata fonte and Lucrezia Marinella -- Scientific circles in Italy and abroad : Camilla Erculiani and Margherita Sarrochi -- Epilogue
Summary Many women were at the vanguard in the era of the scientific revolution, deeply invested in empirical culture, yet their names are largely unknown. Ray's study begins with Caterina Sforza's alchemical recipes; examines the sixteenth-century vogue for "books of secrets"; and looks at narratives of science in works by Moderata Fonte and Lucrezia Marinella. It concludes with Camilla Erculiani's letters on natural philosophy and, finally, Margherita Sarrocchi's defense of Galileo's "Medicean" stars. Her book rethinks early modern science, properly reintroducing the integral and essential work of women
"The era of the Scientific Revolution has long been epitomized by Galileo. Yet many women were at its vanguard, deeply invested in empirical culture. They experimented with medicine and practical alchemy at home, at court, and through collaborative networks of practitioners. In academies, salons, and correspondence, they debated cosmological discoveries; in their literary production, they used their knowledge of natural philosophy to argue for their intellectual equality to men. Meredith Ray restores the work of these women to our understanding of early modern scientific culture. Her study begins with Caterina Sforza's alchemical recipes; examines the sixteenth-century vogue for "books of secrets"; and looks at narratives of science in works by Moderata Fonte and Lucrezia Marinella. It concludes with Camilla Erculiani's letters on natural philosophy and, finally, Margherita Sarrocchi's defense of Galileo's "Medicean" stars. Combining literary and cultural analysis, Daughters of Alchemy contributes to the emerging scholarship on the variegated nature of scientific practice in the early modern era. Drawing on a range of under-studied material including new analyses of the Sarrocchi-Galileo correspondence and a previously unavailable manuscript of Sforza's Experimenti, Ray's book rethinks early modern science, properly reintroducing the integral and essential work of women."--Publisher's description
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter, viewed March 26, 2020)
Subject Women in science -- Italy -- History
Women scientists -- Italy -- Biography
Science -- Italy -- History
Alchemy.
Women -- history
Science -- history
Alchemy
History, Early Modern 1451-1600
alchemy.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Science & Technology.
SCIENCE -- History.
HISTORY -- Renaissance.
Alchemy
Science
Women in science
Women scientists
Frau
Wissenschaft
Alkemi -- lärda kvinnor -- Italien -- 1500-talet -- 1600-talet -- biografi.
Filosofi -- vetenskap -- historia.
Alchemy -- women scholars -- Italy -- 16th century -- 17th century -- biography.
Philosophy -- science -- History.
Kvinnliga vetenskapsmän -- historia.
Naturvetenskap -- historia.
SUBJECT Italy
Subject Italy
Italien
Genre/Form Biographies
History
Biographies.
Biographies.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780674425873
0674425871