Jabir Ibn Haiyan

Jabir Ibn Haiyan 

(Died 803 C.E.) 

Jabir Ibn Haiyan, the alchemist Geber of the Middle Ages, is generally known as the father of chemistry. Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan, sometimes called al-Harrani and al-Sufi, was the son of the druggist (Attar). The pre-cise date of his birth is the subject of some discussion, but it is estab-lished that he practised medicine and alchemy in Kufa around 776 C.E. He is reported to have studied under Imam Ja'far Sadiq and the Ummayed prince Khalid Ibn Yazid. In his early days, he practised med-icine and was under the patronage of the Barmaki Vizir during the Abbssid Caliphate of Haroon al-Rashid. He shared some of the effects of the downfall of the Barmakis and was placed under house arrest in Kufa, where he died in 803 C.E. 

Jabir's major contribution was in the field of chemistry. He introduced experimental investigation into alchemy, which rap-idly changed its character into modern chemistry. On the ruins of his well-known laboratory remained after centuries, but his fame rests on over 100 monumental treatises, of which 22 relate to chemistry and alchemy. His contribution of fundamental importance to chemistry includes perfection of scientific tech-niques such as crystalization, distillation, calcination, sublima-tion and evaporation and development of several instruments for the same. The fact of early development of chemistry as a dis-tinct branch of science by the Arabs, instead of the earlier vague ideas, is well-established and the very name chemistry is derived from the Arabic word al-Kimya, which was studied and devel-oped extensively by the Muslim scientists. 

Perhaps Jabir's major practical achievement was the discovery of mineral and others acids, which he prepared for the first time in his alembic (Anbique). 

Apart from several contributions of basic nature to alchemy, involving largely the preparation of new compounds and devel-opment of chemical methods, he also developed a number of applied chemical processes, thus becoming a pioneer in the field of applied science. His achievements in this field include prepa-ration of various metals, development of steel, dyeing of cloth and tanning of leather, varnishing of water-proof cloth, use of manganese dioxide in glass-making, prevention of rusting, letter-ring in gold, identification of paints, greases, etc. During the course of these practical endeavours, he also developed aqua regia to dissolve gold. The alembic is his great invention, which made easy and systematic the process of distillation. Jabir laid great stress on experimentation and accuracy in his work. 

Based on their properties, he has described three distinct types of substances. First, spirits i.e. those which vaporise on heating, like camphor, arsenic and ammonium chloride; second-ly, metals, for example, gold, silver, lead, copper, iron, and third-ly, the category of compounds which can be converted into pow-ders. He thus paved the way for such later classification as met-als, non-metals and volatile substances. 

Although known as an alchemist, he did not seem to have seriously pursued the preparation of noble metals as an alchemist; instead he devoted his effort to the development of basic chemical methods and study of mechanisms of chemical reactions in themselves and thus helped evolve chemistry as a sci-ence from the legends of alchemy. He emphasised that, in chem-ical reactions, definite quantities of various substances are involved and thus can be said to have paved the way for the law of constant proportions. 

A large number of books are included in his corpus. Apart from chemistry, he also contributed to other sciences such as medicine and astronomy. His books on chemistry, including his Kitab-al-Kimya, and Kitab al-Sab'een were translated into Latin and various European languages. These translations were popu-lar in Europe for several centuries and have influenced the evo-lution of modern chemistry. Several technical terms devised by Jabir, such as alkali, are today found in various European lan-guages and have become part of scientific vocabulary. Only a few of his books have been edited and published, while several others preserved in Arabic have yet to be annotated and pub-lished. 

Doubts have been expressed as to whether all the volumi-nous work included in the corpus is his own contribution or it contains later commentaries/additions by his followers. According to Sarton, the true worth of his work would only be known when all his books have been edited and published. His religious views and philosophical concepts embodied in the cor-pus have been criticised but, apart from the question of their authenticity, it is to be emphasised that the major contribution of Jabir lies in the field of chemistry and not in religion. His various breakthroughs e.g., preparation of acids for the first time, notably nitric, hydrochloric, citric and tartaric acids, and empha-sis on systematic experimentation are outstanding and it is on the basis of such work that he can justly be regarded as the father of modern chemistry. In the words of Max Mayerhaff, the devel-opment of chemistry in Europe can be traced directly to Jabir Ibn Haiyan.