BULLETIN FOR THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY
Volume 51, 2026
Kim, Mi Gyung, “The Enlightened Chemistry of Fires and Airs,” Bull. Hist. Chem., 2026, 51, 56-70.
https://doi.org/10.70359/bhc2026v051p056
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Abstract/Description: Chemistry became a public science during the Enlightenment, which prompted chemists to relate their esoteric laboratory culture to the public discourse on experimental physics and metaphysics. Prize competitions and textbooks helped this process by forging transdisciplinary domains of inquiry such as fire and air. This article situates the weight gain in metallic calcination, a phenomenon often held responsible for initiating the Chemical Revolution, in the enlightened public sphere to illustrate how the literary public sought to conciliate metaphysical understanding and experimental observations of fires and airs. Tracing this public domain of enlightened sciences will help elucidate Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier's effort to transform chemistry and experimental physics into experimental sciences based on verifiable instrumental measurements, building on the prior success of chemistry as a laboratory science.