The Role of Razi’s Empirical Method in the Discovery of Alcohol

Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakaria al-Razi, one of the greatest Iranian scientists in the Middle Ages, discovered “alcohol” through the distillation process for the first time. In spite of this discovery, which had been done via Razi’s ancient Latin version, some of the European historians of sciences denied it and attributed it to the occidentals’ chemists. More importantly, Razi’s version could be an experimental method for preparing alcohol. This method, however, had wrongly attributed to the occidentals’ scientists because the European scientists had been influenced by Islamic philosophers, especially Razi. After presenting a short history of the fabrication of alcohol in the world, this paper aimed to discuss in detail Razi’s treatise in this regard. Also, it re-examined his experimental method in the laboratory to show that his description of the operation had actually made this discovery possible with the chemical instruments of his time. It is important to know that in addition to Razi, other Islamic chemists like Jabir Ibn Hayyan, al-Kindi, and al-Antaki had already discovered alcohol through different methods. For example, in his book entitled "Kitāb Kīmiyā' al-'Iṭr Wat-Taṣ'īdāt", al-Kindi had discovered alcohol via wine distillation. However, Razi’s method was better than al-Kindi’s since the occidental alchemists of the Middle Ages had been more influenced by his method. Indeed, Razi was the first alchemist who discovered alcohol.