1001 Journeys from Alchemy to Chemistry

Explore the world of alchemy and how it helped contribute towards the foundations of the science of chemistry.

This exhibit includes images of manuscripts, fictional illustrations and short videos that bring to life the contributions to chemistry by lesser-known pioneers from ancient civilisations.

Published online through the support of The Royal Society of Chemistry Outreach Fund (UK)

This classification of elements is called the Periodic Table, and it was first created by a Russian chemist called Dimitry Mendeleev.

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (died 1907) was a Russian chemist and inventor. He is best remembered for formulating the Periodic Law and creating a farsighted version of the periodic table of elements.

The periodic table (the periodic table of elements) arranges the chemical elements according to their recurring properties. The modern periodic table provides a useful framework for analysing chemical reactions, and is widely used in chemistry, physics and other sciences.

Click here to explore this fully interactive periodic table produced by the Royal Society for Chemistry (UK).

But how and when was the science of chemistry first invented?

Throughout the ages, scholars tried to understand what the world was made of and presented various thoughts.

For millennia people were attracted to practices that partly searched for a way of turning base metals to precious ones such as gold.

Commonly known as alchemy, this practice continued until a few hundred years ago. Harry Potter fans would be familiar with a stone thought to have magical powers and could turn base metals to gold.

You can discover more about ‘Alchemy and the legend of the philosopher’s stone’ on this link.

In India, ancient chemistry grew out of the early efforts to develop an elixir and to turn base metals into gold.

In ancient China, Daoists, followers of a Chinese philosophical tradition called Daoism, believed that cinnabar, a common source of mercury in nature, could be refined by firing to make a pill of longevity or even turn into gold, hence the term “refining” or “firing” the pill of immortality.

Also called Geber, Jabir ibn Hayyan scientifically systemised chemistry. He devised and perfected sublimation, liquefaction, crystallisation, distillation, purification, oxidation, evaporation and filtration. He also wrote about how chemicals combined, without loss of character, to form a union of elements together that were too small for the naked eye to see.

He discovered sulfuric, nitric and nitromuriatic acids, all now very important to the chemical industry.

Jabir refers to the word Al-Qali (alkali) which is derived from qalai (to dry or roast in a pan). Al-qali is “the substance that has been roasted” or “ashes of the plant saltwork.” Today we know that acids and alkalis play an important role in chemistry and react differently in indicator solutions.

Another pioneer, also from Kufa, was Al-Kindi (died 873). He was a polymath, philosopher and musician. He played an important role in the cultural and scientific scene in Baghdad in the 9th century and was linked to the House of Wisdom.

A lot of Al-Kindi’s work was translated into Latin by scholars like Gerard of Cremona, who was a 12th century Italian translator of scientific books from Arabic into Latin, so today there is more of his work in Latin than Arabic.

Al-Kindi described 107 recipes in his Book of the Chemistry of Perfume and Distillations in the 9th century.

In this, and other of his books, he detailed the distillation process.

Distillation was one of the processes developed and refined by Jabir and his successors. Early chemists worked to create a panoply of useful substances from rose water to hair dye, soap to paint, crude oil to alcohol.

Jabir ibn Hayyan is said to have used an alembic still for distillation. In this curiously shaped glass vessel, a liquid could be boiled down, allowing its separate pure parts to be collected as they condensed and trickled down the spout. The word “alembic,” like much chemical terminology, comes from the Arabic al-anbiq, which means “the head of the still.”

The distillation process still forms an essential part of the perfume industry today. Distillation continues to be widely used in many industries including oil and perfume. Simple home experiments can demonstrate the principle of distillation.

Lots of chemical processes developed by Jabir were used in industries at the time. One of the biggest chemical industries during this period was soap. At that time fragrant solid bars of soap were new.

With the rise of this industry, books could be written to spread those new scientific ideas. The work of scholars like Jabir and Al-Razi got translated into Latin and spread across Europe.

So far, we know of 118 different elements and that number is growing. New elements are made in nuclear accelerators in which beams of atoms are smashed together at tremendous energies.

The science of chemistry continued to be developed further in more modern times by scientists like Robert Boyle, Dimitry Mendeleev and Marie Curie. Click here to learn more about the incredible life of Marie Curie.

Whatever Happened to Alchemy? Alchemy didn’t end. It transformed. The contemporary laboratory looks nothing like those of the past, until we look closer. Long before the periodic table, or standard weights and measurements, aspiring chemists had to develop their own systems for carefully evaluating their materials and documenting their results. Some of their conventions were adapted by later chemists, though they now seem invisible to us.

Click here to discover more about the ‘Age of Alchemy’.

Click here to watch the full short film 1001 Inventions: Journeys from Alchemy to Chemistry.