Is Alchemy Misunderstood?
By Jon Therkildsen, MSc MBA from University of Århus (2004)
Can Lead Be Turned into Gold?
Alchemy has a bad reputation because it is associated to foolish dreams of turning lead into gold. But this is only half the truth. One of our greatest minds; Sir Isaac Newton, was an alchemist too, and he had the same dream.
Newton, like all great men of science, tried to venture into areas unventured. And, believe it or not, scientifically it was not unthinkable that it could be done. If all matter is fundamentally consisting of the same building blocks (it is), what stops us from building whatever we want? The logic is sound.
What was called Alchemy then, we call Chemistry today.
In Europe, alchemy led to the discovery of amalgams and advances in many other chemical processes. Eventually, by the 16th Century, the alchemists in Europe evolved into what we now call the science of chemistry.
Indeed some did not passover and continued with the metaphysical side of alchemy, and followed a more spiritual approach to life. But, for what it is worth; the science behind turning lead into gold is not unsound. In fact, we know how to. Yes, that is right; Newton (and many other alchemists) has been proven correct - although it took a few hundred years.
We can “build” gold from other elements through a method we call nuclear transmutation. Nobel Laureat Glenn T. Seaborg cracked it back in 1980 for the first time. Still, it is too complicated and much too costly to compete with just digging for it in the ground, but hey… men dream.
Photos via Google