Atlas Obscura: How Scholars Cracked a Medieval Alchemist’s Secret Code
Online magazine features Institute fellows Megan Piorko and Sarah Lang, who helped decode a puzzling Latin cipher.
Science History Institute fellows Megan Piorko and Sarah Lang are featured in an Atlas Obscura article about a Latin cipher written by 16th- and 17th-century alchemist and physician Arthur Dee. Piorko, who is a second-year Allington Postdoctoral Fellow, and Lang, who is a short-term Herdegen Fellow, contributed to the decryption of what turned out to be the recipe for the legendary Philosophers’ Stone. The pair is currently working on an article about the cipher and its secrets with mathematician and cryptologist Richard Bean. They plan to reach out to chemistry colleagues who also work in the history of alchemy to help them recreate Dee’s recipe for eternal life.
Read more on atlasobscura.com >>
Engraving by Matthaeus Merian the Elder depicts the alchemical universe with the Philosopher’s Stone at its center, 1618. FOTOTECA STORICA NAZIONALE/CONTRIBUTOR/GETTY IMAGES
More News
Institute Launches New Science and Society Speaker Series
Nobel laureate Roald Hoffmann kicks off this engaging program with a talk on November 16, followed by an expert panel discussion on plastics on December 6.
Nobel Laureate Carolyn Bertozzi to Present Science History Institute’s 2023 Ullyot Lecture
Q&A session, award presentation, and reception to follow Stanford professor’s ‘Sweet Revenge on Cancer’ talk being held October 17.
Grace3 Technologies, National Black Empowerment Council Present 3rd Annual Xtreme5 Teen Tech Summit at Science History Institute
Drones, robotics, and Google’s Be Internet Awesome online safety program top list of tools and technologies experienced by more than 200 Philadelphia students at STEM event.