It is a sharp corrective to the lazy divisions of modern thought that one of the greatest scientists of the Middle Ages should have been a Dominican, a saint and a Doctor of the Church.
He was equally an authority on physics, mineralogy, chemistry, astronomy and biology. Two centuries before Columbus, Albert explained that the earth is spherical and analysed how climate is affected by latitude. Contemporaries called him “the universal doctor”. For Albert recognised no division between science and theology. A dedicated Aristotelian, he was convinced that the study of natural phenomena could be used to enhance the understanding of Christianity.
