He believed he could turn stone into gold: Who is Albertus Magnus?
Albertus Magnus was a famous medieval theologian and philosopher. He has spent his life searching for the philosopher's stone.
He was later canonized for his contributions to the Roman Catholic Church. His scientific reputation was damaged because his name was involved in the greatest charlatanism of history, namely the philosopher's stone. Unfortunately, he spent most of his life in search of the philosopher's stone, which is believed to transform matter into gold.
Philosopher's stone is a stone that is believed to turn every object it touches into gold, according to alchemy. According to chemistry, it is not possible to convert any substance into gold. Gold is an element, not a compound. In fact, alchemists had two major goals.
These goals are:
Turn matter into gold
Finding immortality.
It was thought that the elixir to be obtained from this stone provided immortality, as well as turning every substance it touched into gold. Many legends have sprung up in this regard. Of course, the philosopher's stone was never invented as expected, but many formulas and trials were made to obtain this stone. These studies, of course, failed to obtain gold or find immortality, but they were instrumental in laying the foundations of modern chemistry.
It is claimed that Albertus Magnus discovered the secret of the philosopher's stone towards the end of his life and told this to Thomas of Aquinas on his deathbed. In reality, such an event had never occurred. Because Thomas died before Albertus. In fact, Albertus had the most revolutionary ideas of his age. His advocacy that reason and religion can be reconciled contributed to the development of modern science. Like his contemporary Roger Bacon, he advocated scientific research. He has worked in the fields of Botany, Physiology, Astronomy, Geography, and Chemistry. Although he could not find the philosopher's stone, he discovered arsenic for chemistry and succeeded in isolating the poisonous metal in 1250.
Albertus Magnus was a 13th-century German thinker who, for his deep and far-reaching knowledge, was given the title Doctor Universalis (Universal Scholar) in the Middle Ages.
Albertus Magnus joined the Dominican order and learned about Aristotle and the interpretations of Aristotelian philosophy by Muslim philosophers such as Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes, and Ibn Tufayl; then, based on these interpretations, he brought new interpretations that could be compatible with Christian beliefs.
Albertus Magnus, while trying to solve the philosophical problems with the mind, took great care not to conflict with the Bible and therefore not to conflict with faith, and with this approach, his student Thomas Aquinas was greatly influenced.
It is not accidental that Albertus Magnus chose the philosophy of Aristotle rather than Plato, and it is possible to explain this choice with the influence of Muslim philosophers such as Ibn Rushd.