Johann Rudolf Glauber

Johann Rudolf Glauber (1604 - March 10 1670), a German-Dutch alchemist and chemist.

Born in Karlstadt, he received no formal education and later he moved to the Netherlands and settled in Amsterdam (1655).

He might be regarded as a forerunner of contemporary chemists. His work and experiments resulted in discoveries of several analytic methods and he was the first to produce hydrochloric acid. Among other chemical compounds Glauber discovered sodium sulfate, which is named after him (Glauber's salt).