Happy International Woman’s Day 2022

The first two named distillers are both women! Tapputi-Belatekallim who lived around 1200 BC in Babylon, Mesopotamia was the first in history to own a still (that she used for perfume distilling). Mary the Jewess (also called Mary the Prophetess) started researching on distilling between 100-300 AD in Alexandria, Egypt and was a famous alchemist inventing distilling equipment, and influencing scholars searching for the “all healing tincture“ or “the water of life“. Her findings were written down in riddles and her scripts were famous alchemistic studies until late in the medieval period. Both women deserve to be honored for their achievements in chemistry and distilling.