Jabir ibn Hayyan Hayyan (THE FATHER OF CHEMISTRY)

    Jabir ibn Hayyan was a prominent polymath: a chemist and alchemist, astronomer and astrologer, engineer, geologist, philosopher, physicist, and pharmacist and physician. Born and educated in Tus, located in Iran's Persian heartland of Khorasan, he later traveled to Kufa. Jabir is held to be the First Practical Alchemist.

    He described Ammonium Chloride and showed how to prepare white lead. He distilled vinegar to obtain strong acetic acid, which had been the strongest acid known to the ancients. He even prepared weak nitric acid which, potentially at least, was much stronger.

    Jabir's greatest influence lay in his studies in connection with the Transmutation of Metals. It seemed to him that mercury was the metal par excellence, since its liquid nature made it appear to have the least admixture of earthiness. Then sulfur seemed to possess the remarkable property of combustibility.

    Jabir divided the substance into three categories; first group he called Spirits Substance which vaporize on heating, like sulfur, ammonium chloride, camphor and arsenic etc, second group he called Metals like copper, silver, gold, iron and lead etc the third group he called Non-Malleable like rocks, charcoal.