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Article ID: CBB179199218

Failed Utopias and Practical Chemistry: The Priestleys, the Du Ponts, and the Transmission of Transatlantic Science, 1770–1820 (2020)

Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology
Volume: 77
Issue: 2
Pages: 215-252
Publication date: 2020
Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2020.1738751

URI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2020.1738751

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Science and society Chemistry 19th century 18th century France United States Great Britain Cooper, Thomas Du Pont de Nemours, Pierre Samuel Priestley, Joseph

Eighteenth-century events, replete with Dickensian dualities, brought two Enlightenment families to America. Pierre-Samuel du Pont and Joseph Priestley contemplated relocating their families decades before immigrating. After arriving, they discovered deficiencies in education and chemistry. Their experiences were indicative of the challenges in transmitting transatlantic chemistry. The Priestleys were primed to found an American chemical legacy. Science connected Priestley to British manufacturers, Continental chemists, and American statesmen. Priestley's marriage into the Wilkinson ironmaster dynasty, and Lunar Society membership, helped his sons apprentice, and befriend manufacturer-chemist Thomas Cooper. However, ideological persecution forced them from England. Priestley's plans for his sons to inherit Wilkinson's ironworks evaporated; in America, efforts to establish manufactories, colonies, farms, and a college miscarried. Cooper taught college chemistry, but his materialism provoked dismissals. The Du Ponts were unlikely founders of an industrial-chemistry empire. Du Pont's philosophy promulgated that agriculture, not industry, produced wealth. Eleuthère-Irénée apprenticed in France's gunpowder administration, however, plans for his succession died and director Antoine Lavoisier, a family friend, was executed. E.-I. and Du Pont's arrest precipitated relocation to America. Du Pont's utopian colony and schemes proved unrealistic. Nevertheless, E.-I.'s gunpowder manufactory—utilizing transatlantic contacts and privileged knowledge of advanced French chemistry—succeeded through practical application.

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Article John R. R. Christie (2020) Atlantic Chemistries, 1600–1820. Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology (pp. 135-138). unapi

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