Obed Simon Johnson

Obed Simon Johnson (May 5, 1881 – October 12, 1970) was an American academic, chaplain, congregational missionary and student of Chinese culture and history, known for ''A Study of Chinese Alchemy'', which attributes the origin of alchemy to ancient China, rather than Greco-Egyptians 500 years later. He was the first Westerner to recognize the ancient Chinese alchemists.

Johnson was an early and pioneering sinologist. Johnson's contributions were translation, collation and synthesis of Chinese alchemy from many of the Chinese classics and books. He then made western scholars aware that one of the central tenets in chemistry, the elixir concept emerged far earlier in China than in Europe (i.e., w/ Roger Bacon). This is a key contribution to history in general and the history of science and chemistry in particular. He contributed important epistemological perspectives to the historical literature including Confucian and Taoist classics, books such as Chuang Tzu and Huai Nan Tzu, and dynastic histories in his seminal book “The Study of Chinese Alchemy” published in Shanghai in 1928. This book, which is referenced in ''The Hero With a Thousand Faces'' by Joseph Campbell, influenced Joseph Needham, Arthur Waley, Lynn Townsend White, Jr. and many other works on Chinese alchemy. Provided by Wikipedia