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Alchemy

ZosimosJābir ibn ḤayyānEbû Bekir er-RâzîParacelsusIsaac Newton

This page delivers no verdict; it presents claims and evidence with their sources. No theory in science is absolute. Method

For everyone

Alchemy is an ancient tradition aiming to transform both matter (e.g. base metals into gold) and the person (by purifying and perfecting the soul). It developed in Egypt, Greece, China, India and the Islamic world; its laboratory techniques (distillation, sublimation, crystallisation) passed into chemistry. Alchemy is still practised today both as material laboratory work and as a spiritual and psychological path of transformation. The transmutation of metals was achieved in the 20th century by nuclear physics, though not by the methods the alchemists envisaged.

For specialists

According to the mercury–sulphur theory of the Jābirian corpus, metals form from mercury and sulphur in different proportions; if the proportions are corrected, the metal can be transmuted. The theory passed into Latin alchemy. Abū Bakr al-Rāzī classified alchemical operations and substances systematically; Ibn Sīnā, in the Kitāb al-Shifāʾ, doubted that species (of metals) can truly be transmuted. The work of Newman and Principe showed that alchemy and chemistry ("chymistry") were inseparable in the 17th century. Jung interpreted alchemy as a symbolic expression of the process of individuation.

Claims

Evidence

Supporting

Historical record

Techniques developed by alchemists, such as distillation, sublimation and the preparation of acids, passed into the chemistry laboratory and are still used.[1][2]

Experiment

Transmutation of one element into another, for example bismuth and lead into gold, has been achieved in the laboratory by nuclear reactions, using high-energy methods very different from those the alchemists envisaged.[6][7]

Challenging

Philosophical / theological argument

Ibn Sīnā argued that artisans can only make metals resemble one another in appearance and cannot transform the essence of species.[3]

Experiment

Experiments since Lavoisier have shown that elements cannot be transmuted by chemical reactions; transmutation is a nuclear, not a chemical, process.[8]

Connections

Parent

Esoteric traditions

Sub-branches

Jābir ibn Ḥayyān and the Jābirian corpusNewton's alchemical work

Influenced

Boyle and "The Sceptical Chymist"

Related

ChemistryMaking gold by nuclear transmutationKīmiyā-yi Saʿādat (The Alchemy of Happiness)Hermeticism

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Sources

  1. BookPrincipe, L. M. (2013). The Secrets of Alchemy. University of Chicago Press
  2. BookNewman, W. R.; Principe, L. M. (2002). Alchemy Tried in the Fire: Starkey, Boyle, and the Fate of Helmontian Chymistry. University of Chicago Press
  3. EncyclopediaSimya. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisiislamansiklopedisi.org.trarchive
  4. BookJung, C. G. (1944). Psychologie und Alchemie. Rascher, Zürich
  5. BookGazzâlî / al-Ghazālī; Field, C. (trans.) (1910). The Alchemy of Happiness. John Murray, London
  6. ArticleAleklett, K.; Morrissey, D. J.; Loveland, W.; McGaughey, P. L.; Seaborg, G. T. (1981). Energy dependence of 209Bi fragmentation in relativistic nuclear collisions. Physical Review C 23, 1044–1046DOI 10.1103/PhysRevC.23.1044archive
  7. ArticleALICE Collaboration (2025). Proton emission in ultraperipheral Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV. Physical Review C 111, 054906DOI 10.1103/PhysRevC.111.054906archive
  8. BookLavoisier, A.-L. (1789). Traité élémentaire de chimie. Cuchet, Paris

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Cite this page

APA

Athena contributors. (2026). Alchemy. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/simya/

BibTeX
@misc{athena_simya,
  title        = {Alchemy},
  author       = {{Athena contributors}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/simya/}},
  note         = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}

Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 27, 2026 · Page history

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