The Swiss-Austrian physician, alchemist, philosopher and natural scientist Philippus Aureolus Teophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493-1541) was born near Einsiedeln in Switzerland. From 1515 he called himself Paracelsus. In 1527 he became a city doctor in Basel. He settled in Salzburg (today Austria) in 1524/25 and made himself unpopular with Salzburg's Archbishop Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg by supporting the rebels in the German Peasant War. Paracelsus criticized the prevailing doctrine of humoral pathology (four-juice doctrine) of the Greek physician Galen (129-216) and the mere "book wisdom" of medical scholars of the time. He placed scientific experimentation above pure book lore and demanded that the healing power of nature be supported by a natural life. He was the founder of pharmaceutical chemistry and refined alchemy by incorporating medicine.
His great importance has long been misunderstood. About Paracelsus' early death there are many suppositions, speculations and legendary tales. He was poisoned, he was thrown down a rock, he died of liver cancer as a result of his alcohol consumption, or he fell down stairs in a frenzy, and many more. After examining his bones he probably died of mercury poisoning. He wrote over 200 writings; one of his most important works was "Books Archidoxis". Paracelsus was the first to use the term "spiritus vini" (spirit of wine) for the result of a distillation, which later made the term spirit of wine and alcohol synonymous.
Middle picture: By Martin Sauter - photographed by himself, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, Link
Picture right: By Werner F. Kunz / H87 - Own work, GFDL, Link
