List of alchemists

An alchemist is 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, And is still practiced today by few.

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.

Legendary alchemists

• Enki (ca. 3000 BC)
• Hermes Trismegistus
• Mary the Jewess
• Nicolas Flamel
• Myth Alchemist

Persian Empire alchemists

• Ostanes, the Persian
• Jābir ibn Hayyān, the Persian
• Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina, "Avicenna" (980 – 1037), a critic of alchemy , Father of modern Medicine
• Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi, "Rhazes" (864 – 930)

Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Empire alchemists

• Plato (ca. 360 BC)
• Zosimos of Panopolis (ca. 300 AD)
• Olympiodorus of Thebes (ca. 400)

Indian alchemists

• Nagarjuna, the 10th century South Indian king
• Yogi Vemana

Chinese alchemists

• Zhang Guo the Elder (ca. 600)

Islamic alchemists

Further information: Alchemy (Islam)

• Khalid ibn Yazid, "Calid" (d. 704)
• Jābir ibn Hayyān, "Geber" (c. 721 – 815)
• Al-Farabi, "Alfarabi" (870 – 950/951)
• Al-Kindi, "Alkindus" (801 – 873), a critic of alchemy
• Ibn Umail, circa 900 AD
• Al-Tughrai (1061 – 1121, Persia)
• Abu' l-Qasim al-Iraqi, circa 1300 AD

Western alchemists

• Artephius (12th century)
• Alain de Lille (Born from 1115 to 1128 – died in 1202(1203?))
• Albertus Magnus (1193 – 1280)
• Roger Bacon (1214 – 1294)
• Ramon Llull (Raymond Lulli) (1235 – 1315)
• Pope John XXII (1249 – 1334)
• Arnold of Villanova (1245 – ?(before 1311))
• Pietro d'Apone (1250 – ?)
• Jean de Meung (c.1250 – c.1305)
• Pseudo-Geber (Spain, 14th century)
• Gilles de Rais (1401 – 1440)
• Bernard Trevisan (Bernard of Treves) (1406 – 1490)
• Tomasso Masini da Peretola (15th century)
• George Ripley (England, 15th century)
• Thomas Norton (16th century)
• Johannes Trithemius (1462 – 1516)
• Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486 – 1535)
• Paracelsus (1493 – 1541)
• Basilius Valentinus (Basil Valentine) (15th century)
• Jacob Boehme (1575 – 1624)
• Nicolas Flamel (15th century)
• John Dee (1527 - 1609)
• Edward Kelley (1555 – 1597)
• Johann Georg Faust (ca. 1480 – 1540)
• Marco Bragadino (ca 1545-1591), Used Alchemy as a confidence scheme.
• François Hotman (1524 – 1590)
• Richard Stanihurst (Irish poet and historian, 1547 – 1618. In his treatise on alchemy dedicated to King Phillip II of Spain he claims to have witnessed 15 transmutations: of copper into silver fourteen times, and of mercury into gold one time)
• Tycho Brahe (1546 – 1601)
• Heinrich Khunrath (circa 1560 – 1605)
• Melchior Cibinensis (16th century)
• Michael Maier (1568 – 1622)
• Michał Sędziwój (1566 – 1636)
• Jan Baptist van Helmont (1577 – 1644) (Flemish alchemist, physiologist and physician; invented the word "gas" and is considered the founder of pneumatic chemistry)
• Arthur Dee (1579 – 1651)
• Edward Dyer (d. 1607)
• Elias Ashmole (1617 – 1692)
• Johann Friedrich Schweitzer (1625 – 1709)
• George Starkey (alchemist) (1628 – 1665)
  • Eirenaeus Philalethes
• Claude Duval (1643 – 1670)
• Henning Brand (c.1630 – 1710)
• Robert Boyle (1627 – 1691)
• Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727)
• Edmund Dickinson (1624 – 1707)
• Theodorus Mundanus (pseudonym; fl. late 17th century)
• Johann Kunckel (chemist interested in alchemical issues, 1630 – 1703; claimed to have achieved several transmutations)
• Johann Seger von Weidenfeld (fl. late 17th century and early 18th century)
• Anton Josef Kirchweger ((d.1746))
• Johann Heinrich Pott (18th century chemist interested in alchemical claims, 1692 – 1777)
• Francisco Antonio de Texeda (sometimes wrote under the pseudonym "Theophilo", fl. early 18th century)
• Alessandro Cagliostro (1743 – 1795)
• Count of St Germain (d. 1784)
• Dr. Gaspar Pons (anatomist and medical adviser, interested in alchemical issues, fl. second half of the 18th century)
• Christoph Bergner (18th century chemist and assayer interested in alchemical issues, d. 1793; claimed to have achieved some transmutations)
• Johann Christoph von Wöllner (1732 – 1800)
• Ernest Rutherford (1839 – 1937)
• August Strindberg (1849 – 1912)
• Franz Tausend (1884 – 1942)
• Adiramled (pseudonym; fl. late 19th century – early 20th.)
• Fulcanelli (pseudonym; dates unknown: Late 19th century – early 20th.)
• Martin Clunes (1961-present)

Revival and modern alchemists

• Frater Albertus (Dr. Albert Reidel) (1911 – 1984) Frater Albertus Spagyricus was the nom de plume of laboratory alchemist, spagyrist and teacher Dr. Albert Reidel who published several books and rare manuscripts, at least one of which purported to produce the true Stone, the results of which were photographed and displayed only temporarily on a website (The manuscript was The Hermetic Art by Volpierre (Nikolaus Burtschell 1892 – 1952) in the Golden Manuscript Series).
• Eugène Canseliet (1899 – 1982) was a hermetic alchemist and a member of the Frères d'Heliopolis. He claimed to be a former student of the famous alchemist Fulcanelli.
• Roger Caro (1911 – 1992) was the 58th Imperator of the Frères Aînés de la Rose-Croix (FAR+C) and a practitioner of the wet way of hermetic external (laboratory) alchemy.
• Jean Dubuis (1919 – 2010) French alchemist and founder of the esoteric group Les Philosophes de la Nature (LPN), which, while teaching Qabalah and general esotericism as well, primarily focused on the study and practice of laboratory alchemy.
• Marie-Louise von Franz (1915 – 1998) studied the psychological aspects of alchemy.
• David John Griffin (1955 – ) is a hermetic alchemist and the current international Imperator of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega. He claims to be an initiate of a Continental European Order of Hermetic Alchemists holding numerous rosicrucian and hermetic lineages.
• Dennis William Hauck (19? – ) has mainly studied the Jungian and psychological aspects of alchemy.
• Manfred M. Junius (1929 – 2004) was a Paracelsian spagyrist.
• Terrence McKenna (1946 – 2000) a more modern version of Timothy Leary, he believed the Stone to be a mental state of mind.
• Rubellus Petrinus (Telémaco A. Pissarro) (1951 – ) is a Portuguese laboratory alchemist and spagyrist.
• Diane Di Prima (1932 – ) a poet.
• Patrick Rivière (19? – ) is a practitioner of both Paracelsian spagery and the dry way of antimony. He holds out the groups Spagy-Nature and CHR+CHM, claiming lineage to the 17th century rosicrucians. He also claims to be a former student of Eugene Canseliet.
• Simón H. (pseudonym; his books started to be published in the 1980s)
• Alexander Shulgin (1925 – ) In 1991 and 1997, he and his wife Ann Shulgin authored the books PiHKAL and TiHKAL on the topic of psychoactive drugs. Like Terrence McKenna, he believed the Stone to be a mental state of mind and not something which could be produced in a lab.
• Verônica de Thule (1973 – )
• Mickey Rourke (1952- )

Fictional alchemists

• Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist (As well as other State Alchemists on the show)
• Riccardo Belli
• Ivy Valentine, Soul Calibur
• Magnus, The Vampire Chronicles (Vampire)
• The Alchemist, The Venture Bros.
• Daitokuji, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
• Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter
• Tyler Mason, Real Life
• Sydney Sage, Vampire Academy
• Alphonse Elric, FullMetal Alchemist

See also

• Rudolf Steiner
• Arthur Edward Waite