Swedenborg was born into a prominent ecclesiastical family, and educated at Uppsala. While working in the Board of Mines between 1716 and 1747 he made various scientific discoveries, and is regarded as one of the founders of crystallography. However, becoming convinced that he had direct contact with the spiritual world, he resigned and set about teaching and creating a new church or fraternity of those who followed his doctrines. His philosophy is a compound of panpsychism, pantheism, and theosophy.