Chemistry has a very long history. Chemical substances were known to be studied in ancient times, for instance, to make soaps and to extract metals from ore to make weapons and tools. Mixing metals to form alloys, like bronze, also led to new forms of art in the ancient world, too. This field of science goes all the way back to the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, Democritus. When people tried to apply chemical knowledge in the Middle Ages to create gold, this was known as alchemy. Some of the methods used in alchemy transferred into modern chemistry techniques, a science that only really took off as we know it today from the Age of Enlightenment onwards under pioneers like Robert Boyle. He is often considered to be the discipline's father figure.