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JABIR IBN HAYYAN:


Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan ibn Abdullah was born in Tus, Khorasan. The date of his birth is disputed, but most sources give 721 or 722. He was the son of Hayyan al-Azdi, a pharmacist of the Arabian Azd tribe who emigrated from Yemen to Kufa during the Umayyad Caliphate.
Jabir's father Hayyan had supported the revolting Abbasids against the Umayyads, and was sent by them to the province of Khorasan to gather support for their cause. He was eventually caught by the Ummayads and executed. His family fled back to Yemen, where Jabir grew up and studied the Koran, mathematics and other subjects under a scholar named Harbi al-Himyari. After the Abbasids took power, Jabir went back to Kufa, where he spent most of his career.
In Kufa he became a student of the celebrated Islamic teacher and sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. It is said that he also studied with the Umayyad prince Khalid Ibn Yazid. He began his career practising medicine, under the patronage of the Barmakid Vizir of Caliph Haroun al-Rashid.

Contributions to chemistry
Jabir is mostly known for his contributions to chemistry. He emphasised systematic experimentation, and did much to free alchemy from superstition and turn it into a science. He is credited with the invention of many types of now-basic chemical laboratory equipment, and with the discovery and description of many now-commonplace chemical substances and processes - such as the hydrochloric and nitric acids, distillation, and crystalization ¬ that have become the foundation of today's chemistry and chemical engineering.
He was a prominent Islamic alchemist, pharmacist, philosopher, astronomer, and physicist. He has also been referred to as "the father of Arab chemistry"
He wrote more than 200 books including 80 books on chemistry such as the Kitab Al-Ahjar ("Book of Stones"). The Books on Balance
The date of his death is given as c.815 by the Encyclopوdia Britannica, but as 808 by other sources.

Reference: Al-Shakeel, Ali Jumaan. Chemistry in Islamic Civilization. (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 1989).