Hennig Brand

In 1669, Brand accidentally discovered the chemical element phosphorus while searching for the "philosopher's stone", a substance which was believed to transmute base metals into gold.

Like other alchemists of the time, Brand searched for the "philosopher's stone", a substance which supposedly transformed base metals (like lead) into gold.

Around 1669 he heated residues from boiled-down urine on his furnace until the retort was red hot, where all of a sudden glowing fumes filled it and liquid dripped out, bursting into flames.

"[4] Phosphorus must have been awe-inspiring to an alchemist: it was a product of man, and seeming to glow with a "life force" that did not diminish over time (and did not need re-exposure to light like the previously discovered Bologna Stone).

This same essential reaction is still used today (but with mined phosphate ores, coke for carbon, and electric furnaces).

Though Brand initially kept his process for producing phosphorus from urine a secret,[7] he later sold the recipe for 200 thalers to a Johann Daniel Kraft (de) from Dresden.