TOP 10 Greatest Alchemists of All Time
Alchemy was, and still is, the most controversial way of cognition of this World. The ideas of transmutation of lead into gold, philosopher’s stone, elixir of life and others, blamed by modern science as “charlatanry”, seem to be dead long-ago, but� In October 2007, for the first time in the past 500 years, the International Alchemy Conference gathered at Las Vegas, USA. Is the ancient art reviving, and who were those great people whose names are firmly connected with alchemic craft?
1. Sir Isaac Newton
“The last of mages”, as he was called by John Meynard Caynes. One of the most brilliant intellects ever, Sir Newton was a keen follower of Alchemy and its ideas, which lead, as many researchers put it, to discovery of the Law of Gravity. Experimenting with mercury and sulfur, he also made a composition for reflecting mirror surface of reflection telescope thus letting Humanity look deeper into the Space.
2. Goethe
Great German poet, he was obsessed with idea of philosopher’s stone. Many years of alchemic experiments worked in the end, but in some different way: they resulted in Goethe’s immortal Faust, an ode to alchemy, human passions and infinite strive for cognition.
3. Alessandro Cagliostro (Giuseppe Balsamo)
Born on Sicily, this man traveled all over Europe. His unusual personality magically attracted people’s souls and, which was more important, their money. Rumors went that he was able to materialize gold and diamonds from nowhere, and even could raise from the dead. There is not documentary evidence of his achievements in pure alchemy, but results of his studies of human soul outlived him and gave birth to what will be much later called “practical psychology”.
4. Giacomo Casanova
Rarely can we meet such person, name of whom awakes so many associations and used as both swearing and praise. Allegedly the greatest lover of all times, he was undoubtedly a gifted philosopher, physicist and psychologist of a kind. Many admit that his numerous feats of love would be impossible without some little alchemic tricks.
5. Henry Cavendish
He was a man who, unaware of it, erected a gravestone on the tomb of alchemy with his discoveries of pure hydrogen and a reaction of the latter with oxygen, resulting in water. He also was the first to define the gas composition of air. His achievements in science were so remarkable, that some contemporary of his wrote that his human appearance was only a mask, inside of which was something not human after all.
6. Avicenna (Abu Ali al-Husein Abdallah ibn Sina)
There are not so many people in this small World who would experience as much as this person had. Being a bright philosopher and mathematician, he’s mainly known to us as a brilliant physician, whose Canon on Medicine is still one of cornerstones of this science. Cures and medicines he collected and invented are numerous and their origin is believed by many to be supernatural, obtained from somewhere above, not without a help of magic forces of alchemy.
7. Paracelsus (Wilhelm Bombast von Hohenheim)
If some alien civilization ever made an inventory of intelligence on Planet Earth, they should have put the name of Paracelsus somewhere close to Hyppocratus and Galen in the “Greatest doctors” column. Being one of the first “chemists” out of alchemists, Paracelsus discovered lots of remedies for that time incurable diseases. He is one of the founding fathers of toxicology, and his saying “Dose makes poison” is learned by all medical students nowadays.
8. Count St. Germain
If all impostors, alive or dead, had gathered in one place, formed a Guild and elected its Chairman, that would be Count St. Germain. This person allegedly was able to communicate with spirits, cured pearls and transmuted silver into gold. Many believe that he was only an impersonation of some supernatural power, descending to our world from time to time to select prophets and grant them with secret knowledge. He is also claimed to assist George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in establishing the United States as an independent country. In fact, he�s an author of numerous tracts and treatises on alchemy and is still considered one of Great Masters of that craft.
9. Roger Bacon
Greatest of Franciscans, Roger Bacon paved the way for many alchemists with his Opus Majus and Opus Minus tracts, in which he anticipated a lot of scientific achievements we attribute to 20-th century, e.g. Einsteinian Relativity Theory.
10. Tyho Brahe
Tyho Brahe was one of the most celebrated astronomers and philosophers of all times: his tools for calculation of planetary movement are still not yet surpassed in accuracy. Name of Tyho is given to two craters: one on Moon and one on Mars. Besides astronomy, he showed a lively interest in medicine and alchemy in what concerned the influence of metals to human body. He was said to have made a prosthetic nose for himself from gold and silver, which were blended in a way resembling color of human flesh, and an adhesive balm to keep that in place.