AA-F1: Jābir ibn Hayyān, the first practical alchemist

Jābir ibn Hayyān – Who was he?

Jābir ibn Hayyān, commonly known as Geber in the West, was the first practical alchemist known to us today. Jābir ibn Hayyān was born in the 8th century CE [1], but made such a contribution to modern chemistry, that he is still well known today. In many ways his ideas were revolutionary and helped along the transition from alchemy to modern chemistry. His origins are often debated, some saying that he has Arab, others Persian [2]. It is often pointed out that his father was a druggist [3] (pharmacist in modern parlance), which is where he might have gotten his interest in alchemy. Jābir ibn Hayyān was a polymath – he made contributions not only in alchemy (and chemistry), but also in medicine, philosophy, mathematics, literature, music and astronomy [5]. He wrote voluminous works, however, one must be wary of the writings by Geber – it is believed that only part of these works are from Jābir ibn Hayyān, the rest are believed to be later annotations by a Pseudo-Geber who wrote in the 13th century [6].

What did he do?

Some consider Jābir ibn Hayyān to be the father of chemistry – the development of modern chemistry can be traced back to him [3]. But he wasn’t a chemist, he was an alchemist. What alchemists do, you might be wondering. The most commonly known fact about alchemy is its aim to turn base metals into precious metals, such as gold and silver. But that is not all. Alchemy also aimed to find a universal solvent and the elixir of life, which would cure all disease and thus make humans immortal.

During Jābir ibn Hayyān’s time, people commonly believed in the Aristotelian model of four elements [7] – earth, water air and fire – which meant that they believed that everything in the world was made up of these four elements. However, Jābir ibn Hayyān, when discovering mercury and sulphur, believed that he had found two new elements on top of the previously accepted four elements. He thought that mercury and sulphur were the constituents of metals and thus thought he had came a step closer to understanding metals and fulfilling the aim of alchemy. Although his assumption was wrong (mercury and sulphur are metals themselves), it was an important step forward in the development of chemistry.

How do alchemy and Jābir ibn Hayyān’s contributions relate to modern chemistry?

As noted in the last section Jābir ibn Hayyān identified mercury and sulphur, but this was not his biggest contribution to modern chemistry. Instead, he can be viewed as the first “scientist” who worked in a laboratory and developed scientific methods of chemical research [4]. The techniques, as well as instruments for processes such as crystallisation, distillation, calcination, sublimation and evaporation, are attributed to him. He is credited with many of the now-basic chemical laboratory equipment, such as the alembic, which made distillation easy, safe, and efficient [2].

It is important to note that although alchemy had fanciful aims, as we would find them to be nowadays, it made people explore their surroundings and try to make sense of the stuff of matter around them. They looked for ways to deconstruct and understand earth and metals better. It was curiosity that drove them and, although, through using some weird aims and methods, modern chemistry as a scientific discipline grew out of it. There is no doubt that the introduction of experimental investigation by Jābir ibn Hayyān is a cornerstone in the history of chemistry. Indeed, Jābir ibn Hayyān has said:

The first essential in chemistry is that thou shouldest perform practical work and conduct experiments, for he who performs not practical work nor makes experiments will never attain to the least degree of mastery. [1]

What happened after Jābir ibn Hayyān?

In many ways Jābir ibn Hayyān was ahead of his contemporaries. He worked hard to free alchemy from superstition and to turn it into a scientific subject [2]. His ideas were picked up by Paracelsus in the 16th century, (note the length of time that had lapsed!) who wanted to add “salt” as a seventh element. Also, an interesting fact to point out is that Paracelsus picked up these ideas after the alleged Pseudo-Geber had published his work. Hadn’t there been a Pseudo-Geber, maybe we would still be trying to turn all matter into gold. This assumption might sound ridiculous, but it must be noted that many prominent scientists up until the 16th and 17th century dealt with alchemy on smaller and larger degrees, including Newton. So modern chemistry is still a very new discipline in comparison to alchemy! 

References:

[1] http://www.humantouchofchemistry.com/ibn_hayyan

[2] http://www.crystalinks.com/geber.html
[3] http://www.ummah.net/history/scholars/HAIYAN.html
[4] http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/exhibit/geber.htm
[5] Glick, T. F. et al. 2005. p. 280. Medieval science, technology, and medicine: an encyclopedia. New York: Routledge
[6] Linden, S.J. 2003. p. 80. The alchemy reader: from Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton. Cambridge: University Press
[7] Rouvray, D. H., June 2004. “Elements in the history of the Periodic Table”. Endeavour. Volume 28 (Issue 2), pages 69-74.