2025-12-31-accounts - Society For The History Of Alchemy And Chemistry

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SHAC		Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period
	From	Period start date			To	Period end date
		1	JAN	2025		31	DEC	2025

Section A	Reference and administration details

Charity name SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF ALCHEMY AND CHEMISTRY Other names charity is known by SHAC Registered charity number (if any) 1190304 Charity's principal address 45 THE DRIVE ISLEWORTH Postcode TW7 4AA

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any)
	F A J L JAMES	CHAIR (Officer)
	R A JOHNSTONE	TREASURER (Officer)
	A E WOODMAN	AMBIX SECRETARY DEPUTY CHAIR from the AGM on 12 May 2025 (Officer)
	B T MORAN	JOURNAL EDITOR (Officer)
	C A COBBOLD	MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY (Officer)
	C J CAMPBELL	SOCIETY SECRETARY (Officer)
	A LYKKNES	SOCIETY AWARDS (Officer)
	J M RAMPLING
	P J FORSHAW
	J WILSON
	H CHANG
	V M QUIRKE

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January 2026

13 D G HEDESAN 14 T TAAPE 15 L M PRINCIPE 16 P J RAMBERG 17 S LANG

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)[1]

Type of adviser Name Address

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Constitution (CIO registered 08.07.20 and operational from 01.01.21). Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) Association of 302 members (number at year end 2025). How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company)

With 42 days’ clear notice before each AGM of the Society, the Trustees Trustee selection methods will advise members of the Society of the identities of – (eg. appointed by, elected by)

(a) Trustees who wish to continue as such and under the Constitution are permitted to do so without reappointment at the AGM; (b) Trustees who wish to continue as such and are seeking reappointment at the AGM as required by the Constitution; and (c) nominees of the existing Trustees for new appointments as Trustees at the AGM –

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January 2026

and members of the Society will be invited to make further nominations. Such further nominations must be made with the written consent of the nominee and with no less than 28 days’ clear notice before the AGM.

Trustees serve for 3 years after which they retire or are re-elected subject to competitive nomination. The trustees may fill casual vacancies but their choice must be ratified at the next AGM.

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

A Risk Register, including measures put in place to minimise risk, was approved by the Trustees at the Council meeting, March 2024

No fraudulent activity has been detected during the year.

policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

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January 2026

Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)	The scholarly study of all aspects of the history of the chemical sciences (including alchemy), the holding of meetings for the presentation and discussion of scholarly papers, either on its own or in conjunction with other learned societies, and the publication of relevant material, especiallyin the Journal of the Society,currentlycalled_Ambix_.
	The trustees in 2025 have had due regard to guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission. The trustees believe that a broad understanding of the history of the chemical sciences (including alchemy) is of benefit to the public by helping them to understand the place of chemistry in society and culture over the centuries. As a learned society it aims to advance education, the arts, culture, heritage and science through scholarly and/or curatorial activity relating to the history of alchemical and chemical science in any part of the world. Specifically, the charity achieved this by the following: The charity’s scholarly journal_Ambix_has for over 80 years been a major means of academic scholarly exchange, and therefore is of public benefit. It is sold to institutions and libraries, as well as distributed to members (annual membership fee is £40, reduced to £30 for retired members of 10 years’ standing and to £25 for students) The net surplus from membership subscriptions and this publishing activity (together with any donations and interest on deposits), supports a range of further activities benefiting the public:– (i) The Society provides study grants to members who are students, early career researchers and independent scholars (membership being open to anyone). (ii) The Society organises and funds scholarly meetings, workshops, seminars and webinars, attendance at which is not confined to members. (iii) The Society’s substantial newsletter_Chemical Intelligence_is available free to the general public online; it advertises and reports not only the Society’s events and activities but those of other organisations involved in the history of alchemy and chemistry. The Society also maintains a website with similar objectives. (iv)Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry,_an occasional supplement to _Ambix, is available at no extra cost to full institutional subscribers to the relevant annual volume of_Ambix_and to members subscribing for the relevant year. (v) The Society’s Morris Award, Partington Prize. (vi)Brock Award The Brock Award honours Professor William ‘Bill’ Hodson Brock, one of the leading historians of chemistry of the last fifty years. The Award is for outstanding contributions in the fields of the history of alchemy and chemistry. The individual’s impact on the community of historians of alchemy and/or chemistry, through historical research, publication, support and encouragement of students and fellow researchers and contributions to the wider promulgation of the subject are the criteria for selection.

Summary of the objects of the
charity set out in its governing
document
Summary of the main activities
undertaken for the public
benefit in relation to these
objects (include within this
section the statutory
declaration that trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public benefit)

The scholarly study of all aspects of the history of the chemical sciences
(including alchemy), the holding of meetings for the presentation and
discussion of scholarly papers, either on its own or in conjunction with
other learned societies, and the publication of relevant material,
especiallyin the Journal of the Society,currentlycalled_Ambix_.

The trustees in 2025 have had due regard to guidance on public benefit
published by the Charity Commission. The trustees believe that a broad
understanding of the history of the chemical sciences (including alchemy)
is of benefit to the public by helping them to understand the place of
chemistry in society and culture over the centuries. As a learned society it
aims to advance education, the arts, culture, heritage and science through
scholarly and/or curatorial activity relating to the history of alchemical and
chemical science in any part of the world. Specifically, the charity achieved
this by the following:
The charity’s scholarly journal_Ambix_has for over 80 years been a major
means of academic scholarly exchange, and therefore is of public benefit.
It is sold to institutions and libraries, as well as distributed to members
(annual membership fee is £40, reduced to £30 for retired members of 10
years’ standing and to £25 for students)
The net surplus from membership subscriptions and this publishing
activity (together with any donations and interest on deposits), supports
a range of further activities benefiting the public:–
(i) The Society provides study grants to members who are students, early
career researchers and independent scholars (membership being open to
anyone).
(ii) The Society organises and funds scholarly meetings, workshops,
seminars and webinars, attendance at which is not confined to members.
(iii) The Society’s substantial newsletter_Chemical Intelligence_is available
free to the general public online; it advertises and reports not only the
Society’s events and activities but those of other organisations involved in
the history of alchemy and chemistry. The Society also maintains a
website with similar objectives.
(iv)Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry,_an occasional supplement to
_Ambix, is available at no extra cost to full institutional subscribers to the
relevant annual volume of_Ambix_and to members subscribing for the
relevant year.
(v) The Society’s Morris Award, Partington Prize.
(vi)Brock Award
The Brock Award honours Professor William ‘Bill’ Hodson Brock, one of
the leading historians of chemistry of the last fifty years. The Award is for
outstanding contributions in the fields of the history of alchemy and
chemistry. The individual’s impact on the community of historians of
alchemy and/or chemistry, through historical research, publication,
support and encouragement of students and fellow researchers and
contributions to the wider promulgation of the subject are the criteria
for selection.

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January 2026

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grant-making;

The charity continues to rely heavily on the contributions of volunteers, without whose efforts the Charity would be unable to operate. We welcomed Yiran Tao as the new Administrative Assistant.

policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

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January 2026

Section D Achievements and performance

On Monday 12 May 2025, the Society held its AGM on Zoom. Summary of the main achievements of the charity Meetings during the year All SHAC meetings are open to both members and non-members of the Society. In some cases, a small charge may be made to contribute towards costs. During the year SHAC held three meetings and five on-line seminars. SHAC is enormously grateful to all the institutions that hosted and supported the meetings throughout the year. On 14 January the SHAC Postgraduate and Early Career Workshop: ‘Alchemy and Chemistry as Vessels for Cultural Discourse’ was held at St John’s College, Oxford. The speakers were Josh Werrett, Paulina Gennerman, Lea Elisabeth Hinterholzer, Brian Li, Ellen Hausner, Elena Morgana, Sergei Zotov, Johannes Chan, Sajdeep Soomal, Silvia PérezCriado, Christopher Halm, Robert Slinn, Sofiya Kamalova Rogova, and Justin Sledge. On 29 March, the SHAC Spring meeting was held at the Warburg Institute on the theme of ‘Biographies of Alchemists and Chemists’. The speakers were: Laurence Chen, Sergei Zotov, Charlotte Abney Salamon, Anna Simmons, Annette Lykknes, Carsten Reinhardt and Judith Kaplan. At the end there was a roundtable discussion to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding at SHAC. The participants were Robert Anderson, John Brooke, Peter Morris, Gerrylynn Roberts and Michael Sutton. On 16 and 17 October, the SHAC Autumn/Fall meeting was held at the Science History Institute, Philadelphia. The speakers were Meagan Allen, Matteo Soranzo, Claire Litt, Brian Li, Sarah Lang, Farzad Mahootian, Alan Rocke, Sarah Lowengard, John Powers, George Borg, Stephen Weininger, Patrick Charbonneau, Christopher Halm and Jeffrey I. Seeman. SHAC is grateful to Taylor and Francise for supporting a wine reception at the meeting. The Society continued its series of free online seminars open to all covering a wide range of topics in the history of alchemy and chemistry. These are then placed on the SHAC YouTube channel, freely accessible to all. The speakers were Sarah Hijmans, Christopher Halm, Ellen Hausner, Francesca Antonelli and Stefania Buosi-Moncunill. Publications Ambix: The Society published four issues of its scholarly journal Ambix in 2025. February 2025: Volume 72, Issue 1 Constructing Naturalness in Industrial Settings: A Transdisciplinary Exploration Paulina S. Gennermann, Gina Maria Klein & Sophia Wagemann A Game of Terms: Constructing Naturalness in German Flavour Regulation, 1959–2008 Paulina S. Gennermann Ivory Emulation: The Naturalness of Early Bioinspired Plastics Artur Neves

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January 2026

Section D Achievements and performance

“Cycles of Clockwork Precision”: Hormonal Contraception and Natural Menstruation Sophia Wagemann The Nature of Skincare: Categorising Cosmetics with Bioactive Ingredients in the Case of Quenty-Cosmetic Gina Maria Klein Can Chemical Substances be Natural? Marabel Riesmeier May 2025: Volume 72, Issue 2 Sperm Whales, Wax Sculptures, and Historical Analysis: The Role of Fat Chemistry in Authenticating Artworks in Early Twentieth-Century Germany Josephine Musil-Gutsch The Byzantine Alchemist Christianos and His Procedures on Indian Lac Marco Bellini

New Sources for Reconstructing the Discovery of Potassium and Sodium: Manuscripts and Letters relating to their Electrical Detection, Isolation, Naming, Announcement, and Publication by Humphry Davy Frank A. J. L. James

A Consideration of John Davy’s “Analysis of the Snake-Stone” Rachael Pymm

— August November 2025: (Volume 72, Issues 3 &4) was a Special Edition, Fine Arts: Heat Technologies, Matter Theory, and Agency in the Premodern World, guest edited by Hannah Elmer and Tillmann Taape and included papers by both guest editors as well as Carmen Schmechel, Tianna Helena Uchacz, Andrés Vélez Posada and Ana María Jiménez, Hannah Elmer and Thijs Hagendijk, Peter Oakley, Katharina Vones and Peter Oakley, Marcia Vilarigues, Thijs Hagendijk, Andreia Ruivo, Alexandra Rodrigues and Carla Machado, Yijun Wang. In 2025 Bruce T. Moran was editor of Ambix with Viviane Quirke and Peter J. Ramberg as Associate Editors, Tillmann Taape and Sarah Hijmans as Book Reviews Co-Editors. There were 69,755 downloads of articles published in Ambix and its back catalogue (dating from 1937) from 1 January 2025 through to 31 December 2025. Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry During 2025 work has been completed on the third volume of Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry - Book of the Light of the Great Magistery. Lawrence M. Principe’s critical edition, English translation, and detailed study of the Book of the Light of the Great Magistery by the Franciscan friar, alchemist, and prophet of the antichrist John of Rupescissa (ca. 1310-1366) will be published in 2026 by Routledge.

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January 2026

Section D Achievements and performance

Chemical Intelligence

Two issues of the Society’s newsletter were published in 2025, in February and August. Both were edited by Karoliina Pulkkinen. This publication advertised and reported not only the Society’s events, but those of other organisations involved in the history of chemistry. It was distributed to members by email and was made available free to the public online.

The Partington Prize

The Partington Prize was established in memory of Professor James Riddick Partington, the Society's first Chairman. It is awarded every three years for an original and unpublished essay on any aspect of the history of alchemy or chemistry. The prize consists of five hundred pounds (£500). Entries for the 2026 Prize were invited during 2025 and the next winner will be announced in spring 2026

SHAC Award Scheme

The Society invited applications for funding under its Award Scheme with a deadline of 31 May 2025. Following consideration by a committee, Research Awards (for which both early career scholars and independent scholars are eligible) were approved as follows: Research Awards Caroline Douglas Elizabeth Fulhame and the proto-photographic networks of 1780s Edinburgh Awarded: £946

Ellen Hausner

The Rise of the Character: a visually abstract method of transmitting meaning in alchemical texts, c. 1300-1700 Awarded: £1000

Sarah Hijmans

Participation in the Symposium “Engaging with Improbable Experiments” at the History of Science Society Conference in New Orleans, November 2025 Awarded: £829

Karoliina Pulkkinen

Science and legitimization Awarded: £1000

Yuuka Sawai

Chicago World's Congress of Chemists (1893): Focusing on the state of chemistry in the United States Awarded: £980

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January 2026

Section D Achievements and performance

Sofiya Kamalova Archival research at Corporate Archives of Bayer Awarded: £717

Eduardo Godoy Yáñez

Analyse the Material Evidence to Construct the Truth: An Approach to the Sensorial Understanding of Chemistry in the Chilean Courts of Justice, 1850-1900 Awarded: £984

Cecilia Seilern und Aspang The Changing Nature of LabGrown Gems: A history of the changing perception of lab-grown gems from the early modern period to today. Awarded: £1000

Subject Development Awards Sergei Zotov Conference “Visita Interiora: ReImagining Allegory in Alchemical Tradition”

16-17 June 2025 at Venice, Palazzo Giustinian Lolin (University of Warwick Venice Centre) Awarded £1000

Julian Silverman

Alchemy and Information Literacy: Exploring Science and Symbols by Connecting Chemistry and Art History Awarded: £951.85

Sean Coughlin Invisible Alchemy: The Paradox of Past Scents Awarded £879.31

Joaquín Pérez Pariente Summer School on the History of Chemistry Awarded £1000

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January 2026

Section D Achievements and performance

The Turba seminars on alchemy included presentations from: Dagmar Wujastyk (Indian alchemy), Peter Oakley (experimental furnaces), Georgiana Hedesan, Petr Pavlas and Vojtech Kase (EMLAP history of alchemy collection) and Vojtech Kase and Petr Pavlas (iWeems app as applied to history of alchemy) .

AD HOC

During 2025 AD HOC held a number of meetings, continuing with the hybrid format with in-person attendees at the University of Cambridge and others joining online from anywhere in the world. The meetings were generally held during Cambridge terms, on a fortnightly basis. At some meetings we had presentations followed by Q&A, and at others discussions of pre-circulated texts.

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January 2026

Section E Financial review

As reported in the Annual Report of 2024, Council agreed in March 2023 Brief statement of the charity’s that the level of reserves would be set at £140,000 owing to the policy on reserves continuing uncertainty regarding future income from the journal publication created by open access “Plan S” and the position of hybrid journals such as Ambix. This uncertainty remains and the quoted value of the reserves is currently unchanged. Although the Charity made record payouts to award winners in the year, this reserve level was exceeded at the end of 2025, standing at £144,937.00. The situation is under review by the Officers of the Charity who intend to recommend to the Trustees that the reserve level should be increased by the annual inflation rate each year. This was 2.25% in 2024 and 3.4% in the calendar year 2025, so the revised reserve limit at the end of 2025 would be £148,000 if this recommendation is acted upon.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

No fund is in deficit.

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

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January 2026

Slgned on behalf of the charlvs trustees Signaturels) Full name(s} Position leg Secretary. Chair. etc) ¥)booM Date 2QLZ TAR 12 January 2026

Socl#ty for the History of Al¢1 *nd 11903114 incorporntlng 313777 Chemlsiry CC16a modified to list 2 restri¢t•d funds Receipts and ments accounts For the period from 01-Jan-25 31 Dec 2025 Section A Receipts and payments Unrnstrictrd fund: General Restrict8d fund: Morrls Prlze fund: Sources Total funds prtor Year Al R•¢•l Membership SubpilOth for 2028+ Membarship ¥utxriplions for 1025 Ordinary Soety meeUrvJ8 Qne-ofl swial project¥ 6072 $207 5707 662 3pbie11ne Jwmal Amb.. Fixod paymwl aTrJ royalty on s8k$ Source6 sup0m0tO Amb. roy8WI Donaiion$ 17186 t708S 19474 Inleresl Ml8iellgneou6 3743 4260 2700 Sub tot•l(Gmss income forAR) J267 467 3318J 32107 A2 A•8ot and In¥Mtm•nt •al•#, •09 tabl? . Non• 32676 467 33183 32e07 A3Pa nt• Admlnlslrabon 4310 233 4310 2335 3412 $37 Ordinary Sodety moe 8ped81 pW6cts gparp lit Amblx trlttorlul expens sourc $upplem¢ni to AmtJK thg, PU{Cal0n. and dK8thbull Awar(Js, pze8. and gra Archlvlry Bank and Paypal ithrye¥ Miscell4r%eoLk8 3614 13814 7863 602 602 Sub tot•1 37 24141 18029 A4 A$s•t and netMent ha Sub total 23763 378 24141 16029 N•t of rOlpts1(paYrnrf9) A5 Transfgrs tw8•n furNIB A6 Cash funds last year end Cash fvn<ts thts yearend -338 9043 16678 13W23 16974 17441 14493 1110 16

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrnstri¢ted Restrictad fiwMI: G•neral fvnd: Sources Restricted fund: Morrls Prize to n8ar88t£ Categori8¥ Details ar•Bt £ to neargSt £ 81 Cash funds 38 Paypal aount 9709 1168 74 FAttounl 14443 1738 NS&I investrnerrt accrMJnl Sha%brty)k 8877Y 8038 $3692 17441 1110 Unr••trktsd fun R•strlctsd fund Sourc•• A••trlBt•d fund Details ng•r••t É to M•rMI£ B2 Oth•r monotary a880ts Fund to whl¢h Co•t lorthMII Curr•nt lu• tIoMI Details B3 Inv•8tmont a•8•ts Fund to whlch Curront valu• Details Co•tloptknn•ll 84 Assets retalnod for the charity's own u•• Fund to thlch Amourrtdu• loptlortall Wh•t) du• loptlon•ll DptaTIs 85 Llabllltlo8 5.207 adv8nce d 2025 9,788 hyptytb•ll¢al ¥And. up of Socl•ty EBtimate of eyrAe& knwn to h betn incurred duriTra or rewlb'ng from 2025 actity bui nc4 inrA lo 1,000 gerrnl Tcrtal 15.995 Signed by Or or tte8& On behalf of ftll the trustees Prlnt Na Date of roval AwhfA &4ooom,? .01 .1 Thg Charity al has given rK) guarantee wherts any potential liabilrty urn1er guarants8 1$ oulstsnth"IvJ at the date of thi$ st817nt, arJ bl has no debt outstaThding attt date 01th ststemefft rjrtd by the CIO is seC#j by an wre56 charge on any of tl assots ofthe CIO.

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ Charity Name members of Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

On accounts for the 31/12/2025 Charity no 1190304 period ended (if any) Set out on pages 1 to 2 (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the period ended 31/12/2025.

Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Date: 14 April 2026 Signed: Name: Susan Elizabeth Ambrose Relevant professional FCCA FCA qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: Butt Miller Limited 1 Minster Court, Tuscam Way, Camberley, Surrey GU15 3YY

October 2018

IER

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

No items to disclose.

October 2018

IER