In 796 the Abbey of St. Martin at Tours acquired a new abbot. The brethren soon began to complain about his habit of attracting unwelcome English tourists. They were said to have cried, “O God, deliver this monastery from these Britishers who come swarming round this countryman of theirs like bees returning to a mother bee.” The abbot was Alcuin: scholar, teacher, and moving spirit behind the Carolingian Renaissance. The words of the brethren are a fitting reminder that Alcuin belonged (...) to two worlds: the world of the Carolingian court and the world from which he had come, the school of York. Alcuin had left York in his mid forties in 781, but York had not left him. He sent correspondence to Northumbria and to other areas of Anglo-Saxon England and returned to England twice, in 786 with the legatine mission and in 790-93. Alcuin's intellectual standing was high and owed much to his influence at the Carolingian court. He was thus a figure to whom the Anglo-Saxon clergy looked for inspiration and example. Although never advancing beyond deacon's orders, he formulated ideals about the role, function, and spiritual authority of bishops in the land he had left. These ideals are found in his poem praising the see of York and its school and in his correspondence. It is the purpose of this article to investigate these ideals. (shrink)

A conference celebrating the tercentenary of the publication of Leibniz’s Nouveau système will be held at the University of York, England, under the auspices of the Leibniz Gesellschaft of Hannover, and in collaboration with the British Society for the History of Philosophy, the Leibniz Society of North America, and the Lessico Intellettuale Europeo in Rome. Speakers will include R. M. Adams, S. Brown, G. Hartz, A. Lamarra, G. M. Ross, M. Mugnai, R. Palaia, G.H.R. Parkinson, P. Phemister, H. (...) Poser, D. Rutherford, C. Wilson. For further details contact Roger Woolhouse, Department of Philosophy, University of York, England Y01 5DD. (shrink)

A conference celebrating the tercentenary of the publication of Leibniz’s Nouveau système will be held at the University of York, England, under the auspices of the Leibniz Gesellschaft of Hannover, and in collaboration with the British Society for the History of Philosophy, the Leibniz Society of North America, and the Lessico Intellettuale Europeo in Rome. Speakers will include R. M. Adams, S. Brown, G. Hartz, A. Lamarra, G. M. Ross, M. Mugnai, R. Palaia, G.H.R. Parkinson, P. Phemister, H. (...) Poser, D. Rutherford, C. Wilson. For further details contact Roger Woolhouse, Department of Philosophy, University of York, England Y01 5DD. (shrink)

A quick question! Who’s the first name that comes to mind when the periodic table is mentioned? Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendeleev is the obvious and universal answer. And the second name? Most of you would probably agree with my answer: Eric R. Scerri, Lecturer in Chemistry and History and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and founding editor of this journal, devoted to the philosophy of chemistry, another of his specialties.Through the years I have followed Scerri’s work (...) on the periodic table, reading his numerous articles and reviewing his two previous books (Scerri 2007; Laing and Kauffman 2007; Scerri 2009; Kauffman 2011). In his latest book he comprehensively but succinctly examines this true cultural iconic symbol of science that is used by artists, advertisers, and of course, scientists in all fields. It is almost as familiar to the general public as the chemical formula for water, and an understanding and appreciation for it is essential to the physi. (shrink)