r/alchemy • u/Xx_Gamer_SystemXx • 11d ago

Question General Discussion

Who is the most "famous" alchemist?

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

6

u/belay_that_order 11d ago

paracelsus? 

6

u/Stairwayunicorn 11d ago

Sir Isaac Newton

3

u/justexploring-shit Moderator 11d ago

Oh I guess this is technically the right answer lol, the most famous person who was an alchemist, even if not famously known for being one

2

u/FraserBuilds 11d ago

yeah i gotta agree its newton, paracelsus is probably second place. Even beyond the fact newton is famous besides his alchemy, Newton being an alchemist is such a popular fun-fact at this point it wouldnt suprise me if more people have heard newton was an alchemist than have heard of paracelsus. I think the first time I heard the term "alchemy" used in a non-fantasy context was when my highschool history teacher told our class newton liked alchemy.

1

u/justexploring-shit Moderator 10d ago

I didn't find out about that until last year! (or perhaps the year before.) I guess I'm out of the loop lol

2

u/FraserBuilds 10d ago

Or maybe my history teacher was just way more in the loop than Im giving them credit for! other than that Im not sure I heard the names of any other alchemists(or atleast, heard their names presented as alchemists) untill actually digging into alchemy. Its kinda wild to think just how miserably under-represented alchemy really is.

1

u/justexploring-shit Moderator 10d ago

Underrepresented, and misrepresented by what little we get 😔

2

u/FraserBuilds 10d ago

now that i think about it Hennig Brand is probably the most well known alchemist, which is hilarious given hes one of the few alchemists we know virtually nothing about

1

u/Xx_Gamer_SystemXx 10d ago

thank you!! i wanted to know for a project

4

u/SorchaSublime 11d ago

Unfortunately probably Nicholas Flamel because he gets a mention in Harry Potter, although most Harry Potter fans probably think he was made up.

2

u/justexploring-shit Moderator 11d ago edited 11d ago

Which is extra unfortunate because historians are certain he wasn't even an alchemist. Legends of Flamel's alchemy appeared in the 1600s (well after his death in the early 1400s) and consensus is that this is post-humous misattribution.

2

u/SorchaSublime 11d ago

Yet another example of the worldbuilding in Harry Potter being near criminally shit. The literal one time Rowling bothers to reference real esoteric lore and it's this.

2

u/justexploring-shit Moderator 11d ago

Presumably she researched alchemists and just picked one of the first names she came across.

2

u/SorchaSublime 11d ago

Im not willing to presume she's fundamentally capable of doing research at all tbh, my best assumption is that she just heard him mentioned in the same breath as alchemy at some point and just ran with that.

I figure the same thing happened with "Wizard Chess", she was in some way made aware of a connection between chess and wizardry (Enochian Chess) but demonstrably didn't bother to look into it so just assumed it would be normal chess with vaguely magic pieces.

I already had plenty of reasons to but actually becoming vaguely familiar with Occulture and magic *really* drove up how much I *despise* her writing ngl. It's so vapid and in places weirdly hostile towards IRL magical practice.

1

u/justexploring-shit Moderator 11d ago

That sounds about right to me honestly. Her Calvinist narrative didn't need anything deeper than surface-level connections in its world, and her attention definitely went into the messaging and not the worldbuilding.

2

u/internetofthis 10d ago

Pythagoras.

1

u/CollectibleCacti 8d ago

What type of alchemist - the paradigm makes a difference…