He also known as Albrecht of Cologne. A Dominican priests, philosopher and scientist who also dealt in astrology and alchemy.
Born in Lauingen, he studied in Padua, and entering the newly founded Dominican order, taught theology in the schools of Hildesheim, Ratisbon and Cologne, where St Thomas Aquinas was his pupil.
His compilation of botanical plants in 1250, De Vegetabilibus (on plants), remained popular work on the subject for many centuries.
He was a faithful follower of Aristotle and wrote voluminous commentaries on his works.
He was also an alchemist, although his work express doubts about the possibility of transmutation of the elements, and he was the first to describe arsenic detail.
Of his works the most notable are the Summa theologiae and the Summa de creaturis.
Magnus Albertus (1192-1280)
