List of alchemists
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An alchemist was a person versed in the art of alchemy, an ancient branch of natural philosophy that eventually evolved into chemistry and pharmacology. Alchemy flourished in the Islamic world during the Middle Ages, and then in Europe from the 13th to the 18th centuries.
We know the names and doings of a large number of alchemists, thanks to the numerous alchemical manuscript and books that survived; some of those names are listed below. It must be kept in mind however that the vast majority of old alchemists, being self-taught and more bent on experimenting than writing, have left no trace in history.
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Legendary alchemists
- Enki, one of the Anunnaki (ca. 3000 BC)
- Hermes Trismegistus
- Mary the Jewess
Egyptian, Classical, and Roman Empire alchemists
- Plato (ca. 360 BC)
- Olympiodorus of Thebes (ca. 400)
Chinese alchemists
- Zhang Guo the Elder (ca. 600)
Islamic alchemists
- Jabir Ibn Hayyan, the "true Geber" (Iraq, ca. 721 - ca. 815)
- Al-Razi (864-930)
- Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina, Avicenna (980-1037)
Western alchemists
- Roger Bacon (1214-1294)
- Ramon Llull (1235-1315)
- Pseudo-Geber (Spain, 14th century)
- Gilles de Rais (1401-1440)
- Bernard of Treves (1406-1490)
- Tomasso Masini da Peretola (15th century)
- Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535)
- Paracelsus (1493-1541)
- Basil Valentine (15th century)
- Jacob Boehme (1575-1624)
- Nicolas Flamel (15th century)
- Edward Kelley
- Johann Georg Faust (ca. 1480 - 1540)
- Jan Baptist van Helmont (1577-1644)
- Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
- François Hotman (1524-1590)
- Michał Sędziwój (1566-1636)
- Arthur Dee (1579-1651)
- Edward Dyer (d. 1607)
- Elias Ashmole (1617-1692)
- Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
- Claude Duval (1643-1670)
- Alessandro Cagliostro (1743-1795)
- Count of St Germain (d. 1784)
- Johann Christoph von Wöllner (1732-1800)
- August Strindberg (1849-1912)
Revival and New Age alchemists
- G. I. Gurdjieff (1866-1949)
- Diane Di Prima (1932- )
- Marie-Louise von Franz (1915-1998)