James Price ( 1752 - 1783 )

Birth: London, England (1752) Death: 03 or 08 August 1783 Education: MA (1777) Magdalen College, Oxford; MD (1782) Oxford Career: Apparently transmuted mercury into gold in his private laboratory at Stoke near Guildford (6-25 May 1782); witnesses included Lord Onslow and Lord Palmerston; some of the gold was presented to King George III; published "Account of some experiments...." (1782); asked to repeat the experiment in front of Royal Society and hesitated to do so; he committed suicide by poisoning himself with laurel-water, he had invited the Royal Society to see his experiments, some accounts state that he died in the presence of three Fellows who had come to his laboratory while others say that none came and he died alone.