Johann Friedrich Böttger

[Paul Ferguson]

'The arcanum for porcelain was deeply coveted by European nobility along with the ability to transmute ordinary metals into gold. The latter pursuit led Augustus the Strong to summon the alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger to his palace in Dresden in 1702, in a bold attempt to discover the formula for the philosopher’s stone. Unfortunately for Böttger, the task was undeniably impossible, resulting in a series of failed experiments, unsuccessful attempts to flee, and his forceful recaptures.
Böttger’s luck turned around in 1708, when he was able to appease Augustus the Strong by successfully producing the first Continental European hard-paste porcelain, also referred to as white gold.'

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2120753119

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Fri...C3%B6ttger

[Paul Ferguson]

Another article on Bottger here:

"Sometime in the early 1700s, young Johann Friedrich Bottger was apprenticed to a Berlin apothecary. At the time the search for medicines was intermingled with the pursuit of the “philosopher’s stone,” the legendary mineral that when combined with base metals would produce gold. Even such famous scientists as Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle dabbled in alchemy, but came up empty. Bottger, however, was convinced that the secret lay within his grasp if he could just raise funds for his experiments."

https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/colu...hite-gold/