Albertus Magnus

Albertus Magnus aka St Albert of Cologne, aka The Perfect Doctor ; 1206 (?)-1280

Anton here 6/11/03 :

I was going to write something on him, but the Jacques Martinian Center has come through again ... this is a great little biography of the Perfect Doctor.

http://www.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/etext/albert.htm

The short version is that him and Francis Bacon are probably the two fathers of the scientific method. As well as that, he was a top theologian, and he taught this bright young kid Thomas Aquinas, who in integrating Aristotle into Christian thought managed to become the greatest of Catholic theologians.

Note that St Albert's feast day is 15 November ... this would be an auspicious day for a gathering together of those who accept that

"The aim of natural science is not simply to accept the statements of others, but to investigate the causes that are at work in nature" (De Miner., lib. II, tr. ii, i), and that "Experiment is the only safe guide in such investigations".(De Veg., VI, tr. ii, i)