Other important medieval scientists are the persians Al-Jabir (Geber)
(d. 776) who made important contributions to chemistry, and Avicenna
(Ibn Sina) (d. 1037). (Those who payhomage to the great Arabs in
history shouldn't use these Persians as examples.) The Swiss Philippus
Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus) (1493-1541)
was an occultist, but he made great contributions in medicine. He was
among the first, perhaps the first, to think in terms of psychological
unconscious motives:

"Thus, the cause of the disease chorea lasciva is a mere opinion and
idea, assumed by imagination, affecting those who believe in such a
thing. This opinion and idea are the origin of the disease both in
children and adults. In children the case is also imagination, based
not on thinking but on perceiving, because they have heard or seen
something. The reason is this: their sight and hearing are so strong
that unconsciously they have fantasies about what they have seen or
heard." (Von den Krankeiten).

The capacity of interiority was cultivated during the European Middle
Ages, when it decidedly took root in the human soul. I argue that it
is essential to the success of science and technology. I have listened
to the interview program "Snillen spekulerar" (in English) after the
Nobel prize awards. Many of the laureates are, in effect, monks and
nuns who are completely devoted to their work. "-What are you going to
do now", they are questioned. "-Back to the laboratory; back to work,
preferably twelwe hours a day". Their laboratory or their study is
their monastery cell which is the place where they feel happy and
where they are completely devoted to investigating "God's thoughts",
the laws of the universe.

Mats Winther