Johann Friedrich Böttger (also
Böttcher or
Böttiger; February 4, 1682 – March 13, 1719) was a
German alchemist. He was born in
Schleiz, and died in
Dresden and is normally credited with being the first European to discover the secret of the creation of
porcelain in 1708, but it has also been claimed that English manufacturers or
Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus produced porcelain first. Certainly, the Meissen factory, established 1710, was the first to produce porcelain in Europe in large quantities and since the recipe was kept a trade secret by Böttger for his company, experiments continued elsewhere throughout Europe.