The Alchemist’s Elements: Tracing Mendeleev’s Periodic Vision to Ancient Greek Philosophy
From Empedocles’ four classical elements to modern atomic theory, we explore how ancient observations of nature’s patterns informed the revolutionary organizational principles that gave us chemistry’s most powerful tool.
Read Article →Recent Articles
Sifting in the Scree: Time’s Erasure and the Language of the Land
Exploring historical shifts in the language of geology, from Pliny’s Natural History to 20th century molybdenum mines and modern mineralogy.
Read more →Before Darwin: Ancient Theories of Species Transformation
Anaximander’s proto-evolutionary ideas and Aristotle’s scala naturae offer surprising parallels to modern biological thought.
Read more →Squaring the Circle: Systems of Inquiry and the Scientific Method
A look at the origin story for our modern conception of the Scientific Method, and an examination of historical antecedents.
Read more →Transmutation to Transformation: The Linguistic Journey of Chemistry
Tracing how alchemical terminology evolved into modern chemical nomenclature, from Arabic al-kīmiyā to Lavoisier’s revolution.
Read more →Zero: Indian Philosophy in Global Mathematics
The conceptual revolution that began with śūnya and transformed how humanity quantifies absence and potential.
Read more →Reading Deep Time: Hutton’s Unconformity and the Sea at Siccar Point
The Scottish rock formations that revealed Earth’s vast age and revolutionized our understanding of geological time.
Read more →Explore the Archive
Readings, annotations, and research analysis spanning centuries of physics, chemistry, biology, music, geology, art, history, and mathematics.
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Alex Lukin 