Italian theologian whose importance to science lies in the fact that he was a a rationalist. He is exemplar of medieval reason. Aquinas was raised by monks, and joined the Dominican order. He taught at Paris and wrote Summa Theologica. Aquinas accepted Aristotle's teachings, and found them perfectly compatible with theology. He believed that men were made in God's image in that they had the power of reason. With the statement "Nihil est in intellectu, nisi prius fuerit in sensu" (nothing is in the mind that has not previously been perceived by the senses), he contradicted Plato, believing the world is at it seems.