International Year of Chemistry 2011: Paracelsus: In Praise of Mavericks

Abstract

Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493–1541), who adopted the name Paracelsus, was born in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. Although he studied medicine, there is no evidence that he ever obtained a medical degree. Paracelsus lived in a time of extraordinary intellectual turmoil, during the late stages of the Italian Renaissance and at the time of the Reformation. He was widely exposed to humanist thought, which put emphasis on classical education and the knowledge of ancient Greek texts. In Florence, Marcilio Ficino (1433–1499) had translated Plato into Latin. He had also translated the Corpus Hermeticum, an Egyptian text dating back to fourth century BCE. Ficino believed in the link between the Corpus, Plato's philosophy, and the Christian revelation, and postulated the idea of a spirit unifying macrocosm and microcosm, nature and human beings. There were extensive exchanges between the Italians and northern European thinkers, such as Erasmus of Rotterdam. Then in 1517, Martin Luther sparked a theological revolution. Politics and religion became intertwined with the budding new science. Paracelsus was an eccentric, wandering scholar who achieved wide medical fame. He traveled extensively to such places as Jerusalem, Moscow, Constantinople, Algiers, and Scandinavia. The aim of his travels was to gather “hidden knowledge,” which he sought both at universities and by exploring local folk medicine. He was involved in alchemy and the …