The Age of Alchemy

AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 START THE WEEK 'Glittering' PHILIP BALL 'Superb' TIM MINSHALL 'A globetrotting, time-travelling account of the roots of chemistry' BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE The first chemists were Sri Lankan forgers who crafted unimaginably strong steel millennia before it should have been possible. They were alchemists in Roman Egypt, who designed apparatus still in use today. They were Stone Age leatherworkers, Tang Dynasty herbalists and Mayan stoneworkers. The Enlightenment is usually credited with the origins of chemistry, but in truth, the science blossomed gradually. As early innovators distilled, smelted, forged and fermented their way through the centuries, they blurred science and mysticism in search of answers to life's greatest mysteries. Join Kit Chapman on a global quest to achieve immortality, cure all disease and transmute lead into gold as he reveals the illuminating stories of how the alchemists first broke new ground and shaped the scientific method.

Kit Chapman is an award-winning journalist and adventurer. With more than a decade of experience writing for titles such as Nature, New Scientist, Chemistry World and the Daily Telegraph, his work has taken him to more than 75 countries as he seeks amazing tales from the cutting edge of science. Kit has a PhD in the history of science from the University of Sunderland, is a lecturer at Falmouth University and a contributor to Formula One's F1 Global Exhibition.