Obed Simon Johnson

Obed Simon Johnson
Born	(1881-05-05)May 5, 1881 Lanyon, Iowa, US
Died	October 12, 1970(1970-10-12) (aged 89) Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Known for	Contributions to history of Chinese alchemy
Spouse	Vida Maude Lowry ​ (m. 1911)​
Academic background
Education	Carleton College Northfield, MN, B.A., Oberlin College, Oberlin OH, B.D., University of California Berkeley, CA, PhD
Academic work
Discipline	Chinese language/history/culture
Sub-discipline	Comparative mythology
Institutions	University of California at Berkeley Stanford University Wabash College North Park College
Notable works	A Study of Chinese Alchemy (1928)

Obed Simon Johnson (May 5, 1881^[1] – 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.^[2] 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”^[2] published in Shanghai in 1928. This book, which is referenced in The Hero With a Thousand Faces^[3] by Joseph Campbell, influenced Joseph Needham,^[4] Arthur Waley,^[5] Lynn Townsend White, Jr.^[6] and many other works on Chinese alchemy.^{[7][8][9][10]}