The Brotherhood of Alchemists

Nicolas Flamel was but one of many practitioners of alchemy. The ultimate goals for alchemists were turning base metals into valuable metals like silver and gold and the ability to obtain immortality and eternal youth; the powers to achieve great wealth from very little and to transcend human limitations were very enticing (the desires to obtain these things still remain today). There are two other names in the history of alchemy: Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus (who was my previous character choice). Let's see who were these two, their contributions to alchemy, and their stance in the Galileo Trial if they were able to take part.

Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, or Paracelsus for short, was less known as an alchemist and more for his contributions in medicine and toxicology. Paracelsus was like a precursor to the scientists of the Scientific Revolution in that he valued natural observations over the ancient teachings of medicine. He was an early reformer, showing opposition towards tradition as did Galileo albeit for different reasons. Some compared Paracelsus' rebellious teachings to that of Luther's ideas (Luther was a contemporary of Paracelsus), but Paracelsus himself objected to comparisons with the Christian reformer. Despite having dealt with alchemy to a certain degree, he was less keen about magic compared to other individuals. He opposed the magic theories of not just Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, but also Nicolas Flamel himself. Nonetheless, he involved with pseudoscience such as his astrological research on talismans. Among his accomplishments were his pioneering the use of minerals and chemicals in medicine and his naming of the element zinc. Though he was an individual full of arrogance and independence (thus earning hatred among his colleagues), it was because of these qualities that made him a better scientist and a reformer like the great intellectuals that came after him (e.g. Isaac Newton, Galileo).

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa was a German that delved more into magic that Paracelsus. He was a theologian and, like Paracelsus, an astrologer and alchemist. During his lifetime, he became fixated with the occult and magic arts and, as a result, was persecuted and stripped of many of his positions. Towards the end of his life, he began to reject much of his former beliefs, placing doubts in the existence of magic. The book that he withheld due to changing beliefs was his Third Book of Occult Philosophy, which he thought contained words of "destruction."

Both of these men delved into alchemy in one way or another. However, both them and Nicolas Flamel had contrasting perspectives about magic. Paracelsus only temporarily involved with alchemy and relied more on his scientific and observational principles to support his beliefs. Cornelius and Flamel dedicated their lives into the magical arts with Cornelius eventually relenting to the non-existence of magic and Flamel, according to his legend, ultimately creating the Philosopher's Stone. None of these individuals would have known the dramatic reforms that would then question the former beliefs of how the world worked.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/p/paracelsus.html