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Many women were at the vanguard in the era of the scientific revolution, deeply invested in empirical culture, yet their names are largely unknown. Ray's study begins with Caterina Sforza's alchemical recipes; examines the sixteenth-century vogue for "books of secrets"; and looks at narratives of science in works by Moderata Fonte and Lucrezia Marinella. It concludes with Camilla Erculiani's letters on natural philosophy and, finally, Margherita Sarrocchi's defense of Galileo's "Medicean" stars. Her book rethinks early modern science, properly reintroducing the integral and essential work of women. "The era of the Scientific Revolution has long been epitomized by Galileo. Yet many women were at its vanguard, deeply invested in empirical culture. They experimented with medicine and practical alchemy at home, at court, and through collaborative networks of practitioners. In academies, salons, and correspondence, they debated cosmological discoveries; in their literary production, they used their knowledge of natural philosophy to argue for their intellectual equality to men. Meredith Ray restores the work of these women to our understanding of early modern scientific culture. Her study begins with Caterina Sforza's alchemical recipes; examines the sixteenth-century vogue for "books of secrets"; and looks at narratives of science in works by Moderata Fonte and Lucrezia Marinella. It concludes with Camilla Erculiani's letters on natural philosophy and, finally, Margherita Sarrocchi's defense of Galileo's "Medicean" stars. Combining literary and cultural analysis, Daughters of Alchemy contributes to the emerging scholarship on the variegated nature of scientific practice in the early modern era. Drawing on a range of under-studied material including new analyses of the Sarrocchi-Galileo correspondence and a previously unavailable manuscript of Sforza's Experimenti, Ray's book rethinks early modern science, properly reintroducing the integral and essential work of women." -- Publisher's description

Women in science --- Women scientists --- Science --- Women --- Alchemy. --- History, Early Modern 1451-1600. --- Early Modern History (Medicine) --- Early Modern History of Medicine --- Early Modern Medicine --- History of Medicine, Early Modern --- History, Early Modern --- Medicine, Early Modern --- Early Modern History --- Early Modern Histories (Medicine) --- Histories, Early Modern (Medicine) --- History, Early Modern (Medicine) --- History, Early Modern 1451 1600 --- Modern Histories, Early (Medicine) --- Modern History, Early --- Modern History, Early (Medicine) --- Modern Medicine, Early --- Chemistry --- Scientists --- Minorities in science --- History. --- history. --- Italy. --- Sardinia --- History of chemistry --- alchemy --- alchemists --- Marinella, Lucrezia --- Sforza, Caterina --- Sarrocchi, Margherita --- Fonte, Moderata --- Erculiani, Camilla --- Cortese, Isabella --- anno 1500-1599 --- anno 1600-1699 --- Italy --- Alchemy --- History, Early Modern 1451-1600 --- History --- history --- Astronomy --- Body care --- Literature --- Medical sciences --- Intellectuals --- Writers --- Academic sector --- Book --- Epistemology