13th century. Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain.
6. Hildegard of Bingen Founded Natural Sciences in Germany
Hildegard of Bingen grew up in a monastery, having been a sickly child and given to the monastery as an offering to God by her parents. In the monastery, she learned how to read and write, tend to plants and animals, care for the sick, and play music; many of these skills, especially literacy, were exceptionally rare for both men and women. She also claimed to have mystical visions from a very early age and is remembered for both her contributions to the church and theology, as well as to natural sciences. However, Hildegard probably saw her contributions to the church and science as being complementary to each other.
Hildegard was well-known for her abilities as a healer, having drawn from passages in the Bible regarding the usefulness of all things on the earth. She used herbal remedies, tinctures, and even gemstones to promote physical healing, which she believed was a component of spiritual healing. Her book Physica describes the effects of all kinds of plants and animals on the human body, indicating how food, herbs, and the like can all be used for medicinal purposes. She even wrote on human psychology, again from the perspective of promoting spiritual wholeness. Because Hildegard wrote in the language of her people, German, rather than in the typical Latin, her work was able to influence large numbers of people.