Albertus Magnus, St. (1206-1280)

German scholar of Christian theology, philosophy (especially Aristotelian), natural science, chemistry, and physics. He was known as 'doctor universalis' because of the breadth of his knowledge. He studied at Bologna and Padua, and entered the Dominican order 1223. He taught at Cologne and lectured from 1245 at Paris University. St Thomas Aquinas was his pupil there, and followed him to Cologne 1248. He became provincial of the Dominicans in Germany 1254, and was made bishop of Ratisbon 1260. Two years later he resigned and eventually retired to his convent at Cologne. He tried to reconcile Aristotelian thought with Christian teachings.