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Jabir Ibn Haiyan 721-803CE

Practioner of Medicine, Alchemist and Father of Chemistry                                                      

Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Haiyan, generally known by his short name Jabir Ibn Haiyan, was also known as the alchemist Geber of the middle ages.

Although we know that Jabir Ibn Haiyan lived during the 700s, his date of birth remains uncertain, but it is probably 721 in Tus, Iran.In his early days, Jabir Ibn Haiyan was looked after by the vizier Barmaki, during the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid.Jabir Ibn Haiyan practiced medicine and alchemy in Kufah (in present day Iraq) at around 776CE.Jabir Ibn Haiyan’s major contributions lie in the field of chemistry. He evolved modern chemistry as a science from alchemy by introduced experimental investigation into alchemy (derived from the word al-Kimiya), from this creating the momentum for modern chemistry.

Jabir Ibn Haiyan’s work

Jabir Ibn Haiyan emphasized experimentation and development of methods to achieve reproducibility in his own work and in others work. He also devoted his efforts to basic chemical methods and studied various mechanisms of chemical reactions. He specified that specific quantities of various substances are involved in chemical reactions; therefore he paved the way to the law of constant proportions.Jabir Ibn Haiyan discovered a range of minerals and acids including nitric, citric, and hydrochloric and tartaric acids.Jabir Ibn Haiyan gave several contributions to basic alchemy involving large preparation of new compounds.Jabir Ibn Haiyan was involved in the development of several chemical methods and also developed a number of chemical processes. 

His achievements in the field of chemistry also include the preparation of various metals, the development of steel, the dyeing of cloth, the tanning of leather, the varnishing of waterproof cloth, the use of manganese dioxide in the process of glass making, the development of an aqua reia to dissolve gold, the prevention of rusting, the use of lettering in gold and the identification of paints, greases etc.

Jabir Ibn Haiyan’s greatest invention is probably the alambic (apparatus used in distillation), which made the process of distillation systematic and easy.As well as perfecting the process and technique of distillation, he also perfected the techniques of crystallization, calcinations, sublimation and evaporation. Jabir Ibn Haiyan also developed several instruments for conducting these experiments, as mentioned above.Jabir Ibn Haiyan’s experimental ideas paved the way for the classification of metals, nonmetals and volatile substances.    

He also discussed the three distinct type of substances based on their properties;

1)   Spirits, i.e., those which vaporize on heating like camphor, arsenic and ammonium,

2)   Metals e.g. gold, silver, lead, copper, iron etc and

3)   Compounds that can be converted into powders.

Although and alchemist, Jabir Ibn Haiyan did not seem to pursue the preparation of noble metals, instead he gave more attention to the development of basic chemical methods and studied the mechanisms of chemical reactions in themselves thus-as mentioned before-chemistry evolved out of the depths of the legends of alchemy, forming now a well known science.Jabir invented several technical terms, such as alkali, which are found today in various European languages and have become part of scientific vocabulary.

Jabir Ibn Haiyan was mostly interested in experimentation and was well known for his accuracy. Because of his great contribution and effort put forward by him in the field of chemistry, he is considered as the “Father of Modern Chemistry”, thus becoming the pioneer of applied science.

Other than chemistry and alchemy, Jabir Ibn Haiyan was also interested in medicine and astronomy, to which he also contributed greatly. 

Jabir Ibn Haiyan’s books

Jabir Ibn Haiyan was famous for writing over one hundred monumental treatises, of which twenty two are on alchemy and chemistry.His treatises on chemistry include Kitab al-Kimya and Kitab al-Sab’eem, both of which were translated into Latin in the Middle Ages and other European languages.

Kitab al-Kimya’s translation was published by Englishman Roberts of Chester in 1144 CE under the title “The Book of the Composition of Alchemy”.His second book Kitab al-Sab’eem was translated by Gerard of Cremona.Some of Jabir Ibn Haiyan’s books were taken to Spain and translated from Arabic into Latin in about 1150 by Hugues de Santalla in Toledo. Berthelot translated some of Jabir Ibn Haiyan’s books, known by the titles “Book of Kingdom”, “Book of Eastern Mercury” and “The Book of the Balances”. It is obvious that he didn’t use the correct titles for Jabir Ibn Haiyan’s books.

Richard Russel an English man, translated and published another of Jabir Ibn Haiyan’s works under the title of “Sum of Perfection”. He described Jabir Ibn Haiyan as “Geber, the most famous Arabian Prince and Philosopher”.                    

With these translations into European languages, Jabir Ibn Haiyan’s work became famous for many centuries and influenced the development of modern science, for a period of time as well.Only a few of Jabir Ibn Haiyan’s books have been edited and published, while many others are still preserved in Arabic, and are yet to be translated.

 Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Haiyan, practioner of medicine, alchemist and the “Father of chemistry” died in 803CE in the city of Kufah, where he had practiced his occupation, in present day Iraq.