Who's Who This Week: Paracelsus

Also known as Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (a name he may have given himself), Paracelsus was an extraordinary individual who lived a remarkable life. After attending the universities of Basel, Tübingen, Vienna, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Heidelberg, and Cologne, and being disappointed in all of them, he wrote that he wondered how "the high colleges managed to produce so many high asses." His understanding of medicine and health sprang more from personal observation than from what could be taught in a book. He made remarkable strides in chemistry and the diagnosis of disease, wrote numerous scientific treatises, understood the significance of dosage size, and even made advances in psychiatry -- all nearly 400 years before the discipline was developed by Freud and Jung.

Paracelsus is our featured individual from Who's Who for the week of February 26. Find out more about him in these resources:

• Who's Who Profile of Paracelsus
• Concise Biography of Paracelsus
• Spagyricial Writings
• Quotations by Paracelsus
• Paracelsus Picture Gallery

The portrait of Paracelsus is from Two Hundred German Men by Ludwig Bechstein, and is in the public domain.

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