Arabic name: Jabir Ibn Hayyan, Abu Musa A PROMINENT Muslim polymath (721–815 CE), who excelled in many scientific branches but is widely known for his special contributions to chemistry, which he practiced in its ancient sense, that is by mixing it with alchemist considerations inherited from ancient times. He was also an astronomer, engineer, pharmacist and physician. Ibn Hayyan has been widely referred to as the “father of chemistry.” He is widely credited with the introduction of the experimental method in alchemy, and with the invention of numerous important processes still used in modern chemistry today, such as the syntheses of hydrochloric and nitric acids, distillation, and crystallization. His original works are highly esoteric and probably coded. On the surface, his alchemic career revolved around an elaborate chemical numerology based on consonants in the Arabic names of substances and the concept of takwin, the artificial creation of life in the alchemical laboratory. His several books were translated into Latin since the early phase of Arabic-Latin transmission of knowledge. They contributed greatly in launching the European tradition of chemistry and alchemy.
