Trevor Levere, Affinities That Matter

Abstract

Trevor Levere’s manifold contributions to the history of science are rooted in the history of chemistry and find important early expression in his foundational study of nineteenth-century ideas of affinity. Theories of matter took Levere to the all-encompassing romanticism and science of Coleridge and Naturphilosophie. From there he has proceeded to leave an important mark on many others interconnected areas of the history of science, including the study of scientific instruments, science and the Arctic, the history of science in Canada, and the utilitarian and political interactions of Enlightenment chemistry.