Geber

Jabir Ibn Hayyan (ca.721, Tus, Iran – 815, Kufa, Iraq), full name: Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan Al-Azdi (أبو موسى جابر بن حيان الأزدي),

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was a Persian chemist and alchemist of Arab extraction.

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Referred to in Western contexts by the Latinized form of his given name (Jabir), Geber, also known as the Father of Chemistry, because he was the first to scientifically systemize chemistry.

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Jabir was born in the year 721 CE in Tus, Khurasan, as the son of a druggist of the famous tribe of Azd who was executed for conspiring to overthrow the Umayyad caliphate. As a young man Jabir was sent to Arabia to study the Koran and mathematics.

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He later became the pupil of the celebrated Islamic teacher 6th Imam Ja'far al Sadiq (700-726CE), a Sufi.

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He spent most of his life in Kufa, Iraq. In spite of Jabir's leanings toward mysticism ( he was called al-Sufa) and superstition, he more clearly recognized and proclaimed the importance of experimentation.

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"The first essential in chemistry," he declared, "is that you should perform practical work and conduct experiments, for he who performs not practical work nor makes experiments will never attain the least degree of mastery." He made noteworthy advances in both the theory and practice of chemistry.

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His books strongly influenced European alchemists and justified their search for the Philosopher's Stone, Lapis Philosophicus. He is credited with the invention of many types of now-basic chemical laboratory equipment, and with the discovery and description of many now-commonplace chemical substances and processes — such as the hydrochloric and nitric acids, distillation, and crystallization — that have become the foundation of modern chemistry and chemical engineering. He was a prominent student of Jafar Sadiq.

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Geber was also the pen name of an anonymous 14th century European alchemist, author of the treatise Summa Perfectione and several other books: see Pseudo-Geber.

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