J. J. Becher

Johann Joachim Becher (6 May 1635 – October 1682), was a German physician, alchemist, precursor of chemistry, scholar and adventurer, best known for his development of the phlogiston theory and his advancement of Austrian cameralism. He was born in Speyer. His father, a Lutheran minister, died while he was a child, leaving a widow and three children. At the age of thirteen Becher found himself responsible not only for his own support but also for... more

Johann Joachim Becher (6 May 1635 – October 1682), was a German physician, alchemist, precursor of chemistry, scholar and adventurer, best known for his development of the phlogiston theory and his advancement of Austrian cameralism. He was born in Speyer. His father, a Lutheran minister, died while he was a child, leaving a widow and three children. At the age of thirteen Becher found himself responsible not only for his own support but also for that of his mother and brothers. He learned and practiced several small handicrafts, and devoting his nights to study of the most miscellaneous description and earned a pittance by teaching. In 1654, at the age of nineteen, he published an edition of Salzthal’s Tractatus de lapide trismegisto; his Metallurgia followed in 1660; and the next year appeared his Character pro notitia linguarum universali, in which he gives 10,000 words for use as a universal language. In 1663, he published his Oedipum Chemicum and a book on animals, plants and... less