Paracelsus

Theophrastus von Hohenheim, who called himself Paracelsus, was born in 1493 (some sources say 1494) at Einsiedeln in Switzerland, the son of a physician. He studied in Italy and then travelled widely as an army surgeon and wandering doctor, learning from barbers, miners and folk healers as well as from books. In 1527 he became city physician and lecturer at Basel, where he lectured in German rather than Latin and publicly burned a standard medical textbook to show his contempt for slavish reliance on Galen and Avicenna. His quarrels with colleagues soon forced him out, and he spent the rest of his life wandering through central Europe. Paracelsus taught that diseases have specific causes outside the body and should be treated with specific remedies, many prepared chemically from minerals such as mercury, antimony and sulphur. He wrote on syphilis, on wounds and on the lung diseases of miners, an early study of occupational illness. He held that the dose determines whether a substance is a poison or a cure. He died in Salzburg in 1541.

Faith: A Christian whose religious beliefs shaped his science; he believed scientific discoveries were messages from God. Source: Wikipedia

See also: Galen · Andreas Vesalius · Avicenna