Paracelsus

(¤ 1493,  1510) Paracelsus was born on 10.11.1493 in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, the son of the Swabian physician Wilhelm Bombast von Hohenheim. His birth name was: Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. Paracelsus received his education in Italy, Germany and France. In 1510 he obtained the degree of a bachelor of medicine in Vienna. He probably received his doctorate in Ferrara in 1516. Afterwards his work as a wound doctor took him through large parts of Europe. From this time on he called himself Paracelsus. In 1527 he became a city doctor and university lecturer in Basel. In 1537 he moved to Villach. 1540 he returned to Salzburg where he died in 1541. According to Paracelsus, the successful practice of the art of medicine requires, in addition to the grace of God, the knowledge and mastery of four sub-disciplines. These include: philosophy (love of wisdom), astronomy (science of the inner stars), alchemy ("learn alchemy, which teaches to separate the false from the just") and Proprietas (honesty). His scientific works are extremely numerous. Rudolf Virchow remarked: "Paracelsus dealt the deathblow to ancient medicine and gave science the idea of life.