Regular price €18.50
18th Century
19th Century
A01=Theresa Levitt
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Alchemy
Auguste Laurent
Author_Theresa Levitt
automatic-update
books on perfume
books on popular science
books on scientific discoveries
books on the history of science
books set in Paris
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=BGT
Category=DNBT
Category=PDX
Chemistry
COP=United Kingdom
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
Discovery
Edouard Laugier
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
History of ideas
History of Science
Language_English
Louis Pasteur
PA=Available
Paris
Perfume
Popular science
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
scientific discoveries
softlaunch
Synthetic chemicals

Product details

  • ISBN 9781399803250
  • Weight: 229g
  • Dimensions: 128 x 196mm
  • Publication Date: 01 Feb 2024
  • Publisher: John Murray Press
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
  • Language: English
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days

Our Delivery Time Frames Explained
2-4 Working Days: Available in-stock

10-20 Working Days
: On Backorder

Will Deliver When Available
: On Pre-Order or Reprinting

We ship your order once all items have arrived at our warehouse and are processed. Need those 2-4 day shipping items sooner? Just place a separate order for them!

A FINANCIAL TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR
A STRONG WORDS TOP 50 BOOKS OF THE YEAR

'Dizzying and fragrant . . . truly a captivating achievement!' Aimee Nezhukumatathil


'If you read this book you will be changed . . . this book feels like an actual elixir' Kiese Laymon

'A
fascinating tale of discovery, wonder, and revolution' Matthew Stanley

Two friends in a Parisian perfume shop make a discovery that will transform our understanding of the world and the origins of life on Earth forever.

Set amidst the unforgettable sights and smells of 18th and 19th Century Paris, Elixir tells the story of Edouard Laugier and Auguste Laurent, the son of a perfumer and a fellow aspiring chemist, who met on the Left Bank while pursuing their passion for science.

Spurned by the scientific establishment, the pair ended up working out of Edouard's family perfume shop, Laugier père et fils. By day they prepared the revitalizing elixirs and rejuvenating eaux it was famous for, but by night using the ingredients of the perfumery and the principles of alchemy, they pursued the secret of life itself.

Elixir reads like a novel, brimming with eccentric characters, experimental daring, and the romance of the Bohemian salon. It is the story of a long-standing scientific puzzle and the struggle to gain acceptance for a new way of thinking about the building blocks of living matter long after those who discovered it were both dead. Yet this is also a story of hope and determination. For while the scientific establishment ridiculed their work at the time, teenage lab assistant Louis Pasteur took it seriously and over the course of an exceptional career, was able to show that their work pointed to a deep, inexplicable asymmetry in the molecular arrangement of living things - an unexplained asymmetry which remains one of science's great mysteries.

Theresa Levitt is Professor of History at the University of Mississippi, where she specialises in the history of science and French cultural history. She received a BS in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MA in history from Iowa State University, and a PhD in the history of science from Harvard University.

Her first book was The Shadow of Enlightenment: Optical and Political Transparency in France, 1789-1848 (CUP 2009). Philip Ball called it "an absolute treasure trove of ideas and connections," that wove together the science of light with the tumultuous politics of France during the Revolution and beyond. Her second book, A Short, Bright Flash: Augustin Fresnel and the Lighthouse Revolution appeared with W.W. Norton in 2013 and was glowingly reviewed in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere.