Johann Joachim Becher (Becher Johann Joachim)

(1635-1682)
Born May 6, 1635 in Speyer. To educate ourselves, become a doctor. In 1666 he was appointed professor of medicine at Mainz and at the same time was promoted to the Life-medic Mainz Elector. Soon became a life-physician of the Bavarian Elector, then moved to Vienna and entered the royal court services. In 1678 he moved to Holland, then England. Becher had a tendency to create a variety of fantastic projects that offered various dignitaries. In 1666 he developed a project to build a canal Rhine - Danube for trade with the Low Countries, and in 1678 proposed to organize on a grand scale processing of sand into gold. He was engaged in mining and tried to make improvements in the methods of extracting ore mining. In his early writings Becher appears as a follower of the alchemical teachings of the three elements that make up all of the body. In the essay, written in Munich between life and released in 1669 under the name of Underground Physics (Physicae Subterraneae), suggested that all the inorganic substances are composed of three 'lands' and their relation to substance dependent properties. One of these lands, 'bold', according to Becher, was responsible for the flammability of substances. Becher was a follower of the German chemist H. Stahl, founder of the theory of phlogiston. Becher died in London in October 1682.