Profile Books sign Kit Chapman’s ‘revolutionary’ retelling of the history of chemistry

Rights in The Age of Alchemy: How Early Innovators Shaped Modern Chemistry by science writer Kit Chapman have been sold to Profile Books.

In The Age of Alchemy, Kit Chapman travels the globe to uncover chemistry’s debts to the earliest innovators – from Sri Lankan steel forgers in the first century to alchemists in third-century Egypt and herbalists in seventh-century China. The book reveals the “illuminating” story of how these earliest figures blurred science and mysticism to break new ground and shape scientific method.

Chapman, an author and journalist who has written for publications such as Nature and New Scientist, said: “Chemistry isn’t the stuffy science you were taught at school. It’s the story of humanity, filled with men and women from around the world who have been forgotten for far too long.

“I can’t wait to share the amazing stories of chemistry’s history – the good, the bad and the downright bonkers – and demystify how alchemy wasn’t just magic nonsense, but helped invent modern science and build the world we live in.”

See The Bookseller article for more info.