{"title":"Why Do Things Burn? Elizabeth Fulhame's Challenge to the Antiphlogistic Theory of Combustion.","authors":"Amy Fisher","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2024.2419311","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Motivated by her interest in fabric arts, late-eighteenth-century British chemist Elizabeth Fulhame experimentally investigated whether cloths of gold, silver, and other metals could be made by chemical rather than mechanical processes. In contrast to other women studying science at this time, she not only published an original monograph under her own name that challenged both the phlogistic and antiphlogistic views of combustion but also proposed an alternative explanation for oxidation and reduction. Although her contemporaries widely cited her innovative research, her history is not well known, yet a careful analysis of her work provides further insights into the reception of the antiphlogistic theory and the challenges and limitations experienced by women in chemistry during this period.</p>","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ambix","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2024.2419311","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Motivated by her interest in fabric arts, late-eighteenth-century British chemist Elizabeth Fulhame experimentally investigated whether cloths of gold, silver, and other metals could be made by chemical rather than mechanical processes. In contrast to other women studying science at this time, she not only published an original monograph under her own name that challenged both the phlogistic and antiphlogistic views of combustion but also proposed an alternative explanation for oxidation and reduction. Although her contemporaries widely cited her innovative research, her history is not well known, yet a careful analysis of her work provides further insights into the reception of the antiphlogistic theory and the challenges and limitations experienced by women in chemistry during this period.
期刊介绍:
Ambix is an internationally recognised, peer-reviewed quarterly journal devoted to publishing high-quality, original research and book reviews in the intellectual, social and cultural history of alchemy and chemistry. It publishes studies, discussions, and primary sources relevant to the historical experience of all areas related to alchemy and chemistry covering all periods (ancient to modern) and geographical regions. Ambix publishes individual papers, focused thematic sections and larger special issues (either single or double and usually guest-edited). Topics covered by Ambix include, but are not limited to, interactions between alchemy and chemistry and other disciplines; chemical medicine and pharmacy; molecular sciences; practices allied to material, instrumental, institutional and visual cultures; environmental chemistry; the chemical industry; the appearance of alchemy and chemistry within popular culture; biographical and historiographical studies; and the study of issues related to gender, race, and colonial experience within the context of chemistry.