Both the quest for natural knowledge and the aspiration to alchemical wisdom played crucial roles in the Scientific Revolution, as William R. Newman demonstrates in this fascinating book about George Starkey (1628-1665), America's first famous scientist. Beginning with Starkey's unusual education in colonial New England, Newman traces out his many interconnected careers - natural philosopher, alchemist, chemist, medical practitioner, economic projector, and creator of the fabulous adept, "Eirenaeus Philalethes." Newman reveals the profound impact Starkey had on the work of Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Samuel Hartlib, and other key thinkers in the realm of early modern science.

"A richly detailed account that provides many new insights into the intersection of medicine, natural philosophy, and alchemy in seventeenth-century education, medical practice, and scientific thought." - Nancy G. Siraisi, Renaissance Quarterly "The deep scholarship of this book is presented to the nonexpert reader with exemplary lucidity.... It should lead to a rethinking of the role of alchemy in the scientific revolution." - Roy Porter, William and Mary Quarterly "Newman shows how studying an obscure and ambiguous figure can bring the science of a period to life." - David Knight, Nature

William R. Newman is professor of history and philosophy of science at Indiana University. He is the author of The Summa Perfectionis of Pseudo-Geber: A Critical Edition, Translation and Study and coauthor of Alchemy Tried in the Fire: Starkey, Boyle, and the Fate of Helmontian Chymistry, the latter published by the University of Chicago Press.