The German philosopher and naturalist St. Albertus Magnus (ca. 1193-1280), also known as Albert the Great, was a dominant figure in the evolution of Christian scholastic thought and a precursor of modern science.

Albert was born in Lauingen, Swabia. His family, the counts of Bollstädt, members of the lesser nobility, sent him to study at the new University of Padua in Italy. After two decades of liberal-arts study Albert was accepted into the Dominican order of mendicant friars in 1223. He studied theology in Germany and was the first German Dominican to become a master of theology at the University of Paris.

The political and social violence of the epoch was accompanied by equally bitter conflicts in the realms of philosophy and theology. In 1256 Pope Alexander IV ordered Albert to his court to defend the Mendicants against the professors of the University of Paris, who were members...