Geber (c.722-c.815), Islamic Spanish alchemist, teaching chemistry at the school at Edessa in Mesopotamia. Geber is the latinised version of the Arabic name Jabir ibn Hayyan. He is sometimes known as the Father of Chemistry, as he was instrumental in turning it from a mystical practice (alchemy) into a science. He insisted on mastery of practical chemistry, and invented much of the equipment still used in laboratories today. His writings covered furnaces, crystallisation and distillation. He also described acids, bases and salts.