Nature, Published online: 13 October 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03309-9
A spirited tour of alchemy shows how it bridged everything from chemical reactions, medicine and craft to philosophy, art and religion.
Alchemy: discredited pseudoscience or chemistry’s worthy ancestor?
An alchemist is tempted by Luxuria, or perhaps warned by Prudentia, in a sixteenth-century painting after a print by artist Marten de Vos. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London (45101i)
