Gems and the New Science : Matter and Value in the Scientific Revolution

Michael Bycroft

ISBN 10: 022664460X / ISBN 13: 9780226644608

Published by The University Of Chicago Press Mär 2026, 2026

About this Item

Neuware - The first book-length history of gems in early modern science offers a thought-provoking new take on the Scientific Revolution. In Gems and the New Science, Michael Bycroft argues that gems were connected to major developments in the 'new science' between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. As he explains, precious and semiprecious stones were at the center of dramatic shifts in natural knowledge in early modern Europe. They were used to investigate luminescence, electricity, combustion, chemical composition, and more. They were collected by naturalists; measured by mathematicians; and rubbed, burned, and dissolved by experimental philosophers. This led to the demise of the traditional way of classifying gems--which grouped them by transparency, color, and locality--and the turn to density, refraction, chemistry, and crystallography as more reliable guides for sorting these substances. The science of gems shows that material evaluation was as important as material production in the history of science. It also shows the value of seeing science as the product of the interaction between different material worlds. The book begins by bringing these insights to bear on five themes of the Scientific Revolution. Each of the subsequent chapters deals with a major episode in early modern science, from the expansion of natural history in the sixteenth century to the emergence of applied science early in the nineteenth century. This important work is not only the first book-length history of the science of gems but also a fresh interpretation of the Scientific Revolution and an argument for using a new form of materialism to understand the evolution of science.

Seller Inventory # 9780226644608

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Gems and the New Science : Matter and Value in the Scientific Revolution
• Publisher: The University Of Chicago Press Mär 2026
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 022664460X
• ISBN 13: 9780226644608
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 235W x 161H x 27D millimeters 235 millimeters width by 161 millimeters height by 27 millimeters depth
• Weight: 642 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The first book-length history of gems in early modern science offers a thought-provoking new take on the Scientific Revolution.
 
In Gems and the New Science, Michael Bycroft argues that gems were connected to major developments in the “new science” between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. As he explains, precious and semiprecious stones were at the center of dramatic shifts in natural knowledge in early modern Europe. They were used to investigate luminescence, electricity, combustion, chemical composition, and more. They were collected by naturalists; measured by mathematicians; and rubbed, burned, and dissolved by experimental philosophers. This led to the demise of the traditional way of classifying gems—which grouped them by transparency, color, and locality—and the turn to density, refraction, chemistry, and crystallography as more reliable guides for sorting these substances.
 
The science of gems shows that material evaluation was as important as material production in the history of science. It also shows the value of seeing science as the product of the interaction between different material worlds. The book begins by bringing these insights to bear on five themes of the Scientific Revolution. Each of the subsequent chapters deals with a major episode in early modern science, from the expansion of natural history in the sixteenth century to the emergence of applied science early in the nineteenth century. This important work is not only the first book-length history of the science of gems but also a fresh interpretation of the Scientific Revolution and an argument for using a new form of materialism to understand the evolution of science.

About the Author

Michael Bycroft is associate professor in the history of science and technology at the University of Warwick. He is the coeditor of Gems in the Early Modern World: Materials, Knowledge, and Global Trade, 1450–1800.