History of Science and Technology Colloquium

In the sixteenth century, central European alchemists played on the full range of meanings attributed to secrecy as they offered their skills and knowledge to patrons and other practitioners. While some touted new artisanal techniques, such as a “secret art of smelting,” others proffered bookish, esoteric wisdom, such as how to make the philosophers’ stone. This paper will examine one particular type of alchemical secret – the revelation – through the life and work of the alchemist Anna Zieglerin (c1550-1575), exploring how she employed secrecy in constructing a kind of holy alchemy.

Cosponsored by the Institute for Advanced Study and Theorizing Early Modern Studies.