Galileo and Albertus Magnus

Abstract

Albert the Great is justly regarded as one of the outstanding forerunners of modern science in the High Middle Ages. His contributions to all branches of learning earned for him the title of Doctor universalis, and he was heralded as “the Great” even in his own lifetime. Particularly noteworthy was his encyclopedic presentation, in Latin, of the scientific knowledge of the Greeks deriving especially from Aristotle and from his Greek and Arab commentators. To this corpus Albert himself added entire treatises based on personal observations of the heavens and of the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms. From our vantage point in time we can therefore see him as a conserver and transmitter of the scientific knowledge of antiquity and of Islam, who also contributed to the advancement of science in his day, and who should, on both counts, be regarded as one of the key figures in the revival of learning within the thirteenth century (DSB 1: 99–103).