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  1. Discover
  2. Paper: SS 14 - The Scientific Movement of the 17th Century
  3. Unit: C7 - Alchemy and chemistry

Geber

Commentary

Geber

Image

Name: Portrait of Geber 
Author: unknown
Date: 1584
Medium: Engraving
Location: n/a
Publisher: n/a
Credit: Wellcome Library
Photo by: n/a
Copyright: CC BY 4.0 (Attribution 4.0 International).
Permalink: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/gpq7tqqq
Description: During this period there was no clear distinction between Jabir ibn Hayyan, a famous Arab physician and alchemist, and Geber, a Latin follower tentatively identified by William Newman with Paul of Taranto (13th century). Geber was highly interested in corpuscularianism and formulated the mercury-sulphur theory of metals. He was particularly interested in turning base metals into gold but believed this was only given to true alchemists / philosophers.