mar 24, 1644 - Van Helmont
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Van Helmont is remembered today largely for his ideas on spontaneous generation, his 5-year tree experiment, and his introduction of the word "gas" (from the Greek word chaos) into the vocabulary of science.
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For Van Helmont, everything is modified water—a reprise of the ancient monist doctrine of Thales of Miletus and a derivative of Van Helmont’s reading of Genesis 1. Fundamental change arises from the action of semina, or seeds, acting on the universal matter, water.
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His son Frans's writings, Cabbalah Denudata (1677) and Opuscula philosophica (1690) are a mixture of theosophy, mysticism and alchemy.
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