Geber

=Jaber Ibn Hayyan= (Father of Chemistry)



Jaber ibn hayan, or Geber as known to the Europeans, was born in the city of Tusin in the province of Khorasan in Iran in 721 AD. Although he was born in a non-Arabic land, he is from the famous Arab tribe Azd from Yemen (Amr & Tbakhi, 2007), also his father's name is Hayan al-Azdi, a pharmacist of the tribe who emigrated from Yemen to Iraq -in Kufa to be exact- during the Umayyad caliphate. He was close to his father the pharmacist and thus was introduced into sciences such as pharmacy, as it is his original occupation, chemistry and astronomy. Jabir became an alchemist at the court of caliph Harun al-Rashid, for whom he wrote his famous book kitab al-Zuhra "The Book of Venus", on the noble art of alchemy. Hayan Al-Azdi, his father had supported the Abbasid revolt against the Umayyad, and was sent by them to the province of Khorasan (present day Afghanistan and Iran) to gather support for their cause. He was eventually caught by the Umayyad and executed. His family then fled to Yemen, where Geber grew up and studied the Quran, mathematics and other subjects. After the Abbasids took power, Geber went back to Kufa. He began his career practicing medicine, under the patronage of a Vizir (from the noble Persian family Barmakids) of Caliph Harun Al-Rashid. His connections to the Barmakid cost him dearly in the end. When that family fell from grace in 803 AD, Geber then was placed under house arrest in Kufa, where he remained until he died at the age 95 as it is reported.

The Arab people regard Jaber Ibn Hayyan as “Arab Father of chemistry”. Also Jaber Ibn hayyan had an interest in many fields of science such as astronomy, philosophy, pharmacy, medicine and engineering. With regards to his achievements, we have chosen Geber to encourage ourselves to become fruitful to humanity by our knowledge and works like him and also because he is one of the forefathers of the Arab and Islamic civilization, which led the way to many inventions and discoveries afterwards.

Many scholars in the history of science suggest Geber’s interest in chemistry was due to his father’s job as a pharmacist. Also there are several sources prove that Geber’s enthusiasm in science was because he studied under great Imam Jafer Al-Sadiq; one of the major scholars in the early Islamic history. Imam Jafer taught Geber in many fields of science such as astronomy, alchemy, philosophy, physics as well as iqh, field of Islamic studies; his main field of expertise. Geber in his works reached a further step than the Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato -in chemistry- by testing their theories in experiments. Geber thought about science more as a theory and experiment in series. One famous saying of his is “In every profession, knowledge comes before action”. One of Geber’s major contributions to chemistry was perfecting many experimental techniques in this science, such as crystallization, calcinations, evaporation, sublimation and distillation. He used these techniques to extract metals, tan leather, dying clothes and using manganese dioxide in glass-making as well as lettering gold on manuscripts and artifacts. He also developed a special process for the protection of metals and steel from corrosion. Nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, citric acid, tartaric acid and several other common acids today were discovered thanks to him. (Datta, 2005, p. 40) Geber was extremely keen on the idea of turning base metals into noble ones and specificly into gold; the ultimate perfection of metals in his opinion (Holmyard, Jaber, & Richard‏, 1997). Most of his works and achievements were to him small success on the path to completing the transmutation of base metals into gold. His extreme passion concerning this noble metal gave the famous writer and Nobel Prize winner Paulo Coelho the inspiration of his bestselling novel "The Alchemist". Also, Geber made some effort in catogrizing chemical substances based on their physical properties and their availability to him in nature. This categorization act led the way to the modern grouping system which resulted in the known periodic table of substance. (Datta, 2005, p. 41)

=Works Cited= Amr, S. S., & Tbakhi, A. (2007). Jabir ibn Hayyan. //Ann Saudi Med// //, 27//, 53-4. Datta, N. (2005). //The Story of Chemistry.// India: Universities Press. Greenberg, A. (2007). //Alchemy to Cemistry in Picture and Story.// John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Holmyard, E. J., Jaber, & Richard‏, R. (1997). //The Works of Geber.// Kessinger Publishing.

=** Figures Cited **=

(Figure-1) from :Greenberg, A. (2007). //Alchemy to Cemistry in Picture and Story.// John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Figure-2) Ashburnhamiani, C. Portraiter. //1166.// Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence.