Recently, I was reading about alchemists in the sixteenth century, and was inspired by an idea for a timeline. Though this one is slightly sketchy because the precise date is uncertain within a year or two, and his existence has been occasionally debated, I think it could be interesting if plausible enough:
Johann Faust, the alchemist and astrologer of Doctor Faustus fame, was invited around 1539 to serve as librarian and alchemist for the Count of Staufen, creating gold to make up for depleted silver mines nearby. Whilst there, he was apparently killed in an explosion, and certainly his body was horribly mangled, leading to the legend that Mephistopheles had come for his soul. It has been suggested, however, that he had accidentally invented--and disturbed--nitroglycerin, unstable at best. WI, I propose, Faust had survived to see the results of his research with someone else dying in his place?