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UNIVERSITY
OF BRISTOL SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY
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Famous Alchemists
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Zosimus ca.
250 AD
Zosimus was an Egyptian born Greek alchemist
who believed that all substances are composed of the four
elements of nature - Fire, Water, Air and Earth.
He collected together all the knowledge on
khemia, as it was then known, and compiled a 28 volume encylopedia.
It is thanks to Zosimus that we know what
we do about Egyptian/Greek alchemy. Much of the knowledge
was destroyed by the Roman emperor Diocletian and Christians
who burned the library in Alexandria in 391.
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Geber full name: Abu Musa Jabir
Ibn Hayyan ca. 721 - 815 AD
Geber, as he was known by the Europeans,
was an Arabian alchemist who lived in what we now know as
Iraq.
He distilled strong acetic acid from vinegar
and believed that metals are made up of mercury and sulfur
invarying proportions. He also popularised the idea of the
Philosopher's Stone which would combine the mercury and sulfur
to make gold.
Geber is responsible for giving us the word
'gibberish', derived from his name!
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Albertus Magnus ca.
1200 - 1280 AD
Albert von Bollstadt, or Abertus Magnus,
(which means Albert the Great) was a German monk and practising
alchemist.
Magnus closely followed the works of Aristotle,
giving his philosophy prominence in the Middle Ages. He was
the first to describe arsenic in its pure form and Thomas
Aquinas, who was later to become, among other things, a famous
alchemist, was one of his students.
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Paracelsus full name: Philippus
Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim 1493
- 1541 AD
The Swiss born Paracelsus took his name meaning
'better than Celsus', Celsus being a renowned Roman scholar
of medicine.
He invented the word alcohol from the Arabic
'al-kohl', and his own branch of alchemy called 'spagyric
alchemy'.
Paracelsus strongly believed in spiritual
alchemy and that the purpose of alchemy was not to transmute
metals, but to cure disease.
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Isaac Newton 1642
- 1727 AD
One of the last well known alchemists was
the English scientist Isaac Newton.
In addition to studying more legitimate sciences
such as physics and maths, Newton spent much of his time on
alchemy. Indeed it has been said that Newton was not the "first
of the age of reason but that he was the last of the magicians."
In rediscovered documents deemed unfit to
be printed by the Royal Society, it is clear that the inspiration
for his work on light and gravity came from his obsession
with alchemy. It is even suggested that Newton succeeded in
transmuting lead to gold...
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