Albert of Saxony (Latin: Albertus de Saxonia; c. 1320 – 8 July 1390) was a German philosopher and mathematician known for his contributions to logic and physics. He was bishop of Halberstadt from 1366 until his death. Life Albert was born at Rickensdorf near Helmstedt, the son of a farmer in a small village; but because of his talent, he was sent to study at the University of Prague and the University of Paris. At Paris, he became a master of arts (a professor), and held this post from 1351 until 1362. He also studied theology at the College of Sorbonne, although without receiving a degree. In 1353, he was rector of the University of Paris. After 1362, Albert went to the court of Pope Urban V in Avignon as an envoy of Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, in order to negotiate the founding of the University of Vienna. The negotiations were successful, and Albert became the first rector of this University in 1365. In 1366, Albert was elected bishop of Halberstadt (counted as Albert III), Halberstadt being the diocese in which he was born. As Bishop of Halberstadt, he allied himself with Magnus with the Necklace, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, against Gebhard of Berg, Bishop of Hildesheim, and was taken prisoner by Gebhard in the battle of Dinckler in 1367. He died at Halberstadt in 1390. Philosophy Albert was a pupil of Jean Buridan and was very much influenced by Buridan's teachings on physics and logic. As a natural philosopher, he contributed to the spread of Parisian natural philosophy throughout Italy and central Europe. Similar to Buridan, Albert combined critical analysis of language with epistemological pragmatism. Albert distinguishes, as his teacher did, between what is absolutely impossible or contradictory and what is impossible “in the common course of nature” and considers hypotheses under circumstances that are not naturally possible but imaginable given God's absolute power. Albert refused to extend the reference of a physical term to supernatural, purely imaginary possibilities. Later regarded as one of the principal adherents of nominalism, along with his near contemporaries at Paris, namely Buridan and Marsilius of Inghen, whose works are often so similar as to be confused with each other. The subsequent wide circulation of Albert's work made him a better-known figure in some areas than more important contemporaries like Buridan and Nicole Oresme. Albert's work in logic also shows strong influence by William