Alchemical Practices and Lab Notebooks

This lecture explores the historical significance of alchemical practices, recipe books, and lab notebooks as written forms of knowledge transmission, covering the evolution from recipe books to lab notebooks, the epistemological, social, symbolic, and commercial functions of recipe books, and the diverse purposes and forms of recipe books. It delves into the use of lab notebooks in experimental history of science, emphasizing their role in capturing tacit skills and embodied knowledge, as well as revealing underlying paper practices.