Samuel Hahnemann

Samuel Hahnemann was a German physician who created the system of alternative medicine called homeopathy. He was dissatisfied with the conventional medicine of his time and sought to find a more rational and effective way of healing. He based his homeopathic method on the principle of "like cures like", meaning that a substance that causes certain symptoms in healthy people can be used to treat similar symptoms in sick people. He also advocated the use of very diluted doses of substances, believing that they had a dynamic effect on the vital force of the body. He experimented with various substances on himself and his family and recorded his observations in his books, such as Organon of Medicine and Materia Medica Pura. He also developed a system of homeopathic provings, in which volunteers took substances and reported their effects. He attracted many followers and critics, and faced opposition from the medical establishment. He moved to several places in Germany and France, practicing and teaching homeopathy. He died in Paris in 1843 at the age of 88.