ИСТИНА

Women in the history of alchemy. New information to the biography M. Meurdrac (1610-1680) Baum E.A., Moscow State University, Chemical Department, Moscow, e-mail: baumzai@mail.ru The XVIIth century in the history of the European scientific thought is distinguished by the alchemical Renaissance. Europe was overflowed by the wave of alchemical publications.. In this work took actively the participation some women, including French alchemist and feminist Marie Meurdrac (1610-1680). Her book under the name «La chymie charitable et facile en faveur des dames», for the first time published in Paris in 1866 and focused on education of women in the field of chemistry and pharmacy, had especially rife resonance in scientific community of that time. Using her own experimental practice, the author has in detail described the main principles of the laboratory work, equipment, chemical substances for different researches. There are so few publications about the life and activities of this unusual woman. In the present work an attempt is made to rethink and supplement with new biographical facts the only version of her life reconstructed thanks to the research activity of the historian of science Jean Jacques (1999)