Athanasius Kircher

The Reverend
Athanasius Kircher
SJ
The Reverend Athanasius Kircher SJ
	Portrait fromMundus Subterraneus(1664)
Born	2 May 1602; Geisa,Princely Abbey of Fulda
Died	27 November 1680(aged 78); Rome,Papal States
	Scientific career
Institutions	University of Würzburg; University of Avignon; Pontifical Gregorian University;

Athanasius Kircher(2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680)^[1]was a GermanJesuitscholar andpolymathwho published around 40 major works ofcomparative religion,geology,andmedicine.Kircher has been compared to fellow JesuitRoger Joseph Boscovichand toLeonardo da Vincifor his vast range of interests, and has been honoured with the title "Master of a Hundred Arts".^[2]He taught for more than 40 years at theRoman College,where he set up awunderkammer.A resurgence of interest in Kircher has occurred within the scholarly community in recent decades.

Kircher claimed to have deciphered thehieroglyphic writingof the ancientEgyptian language,but most of his assumptions and translations in the field turned out to be wrong. He did, however, correctly establish the link between the ancient Egyptian and theCopticlanguages, and some commentators^[who?]regard him as the founder ofEgyptology.Kircher was also fascinated withSinologyand wrote an encyclopedia ofChina,where he revealed the early presence ofNestorian Christianswhile also attempting to establish links with Egypt and Christianity.

Kircher's work in geology included studies ofvolcanoesandfossils.One of the first researchers to observe microbes through amicroscope,Kircher was ahead of his time in proposing that theplaguewas caused by an infectiousmicroorganismand in suggesting effective measures to prevent its spread. Kircher also displayed a keen interest in technology and mechanical inventions; inventions attributed to him include a magnetic clock, variousautomatonsand the firstmegaphone.The invention of themagic lanternhas been misattributed to Kircher,^[3]although he conducted a study of the principles involved in hisArs Magna Lucis et Umbrae.

A scientific star in his day, towards the end of his life he was eclipsed by therationalismofRené Descartesand others. In the late 20th century, however, theaestheticqualities of his work again began to be appreciated. One modern scholar, Alan Cutler, described Kircher as "a giant among seventeenth-century scholars", and "one of the last thinkers who could rightfully claim all knowledge as his domain".^[4]Another scholar, Edward W. Schmidt, referred to Kircher as "the lastRenaissance man".InA Man of Misconceptions,his 2012 book about Kircher, John Glassie wrote "many of Kircher's actual ideas today seem wildly off-base, if not simply bizarre,"^[5]but he was "a champion of wonder, a man of awe-inspiring erudition and inventiveness," whose work was read "by the smartest minds of the time."^[6]

Life[edit]

Kircher was born on 2 May in either 1601 or 1602 (he himself did not know) inGeisa,Buchonia,nearFulda(Thuringia,Germany). From his birthplace, he took the epithetsBucho, BuchoniusandFuldensiswhich he sometimes added to his name. He attended the Jesuit College in Fulda from 1614 to 1618, when he entered thenovitiateof the Society.

The youngest of nine children, Kircher studied volcanoes owing to his passion for rocks and eruptions. He was taughtHebrewby arabbi^[7]in addition to his studies at school. He studiedphilosophyandtheologyatPaderborn,^[3]but fled toColognein 1622 to escape advancingProtestantforces.^{[citation needed]}On the journey, he narrowly escaped death after falling through the ice crossing the frozenRhine— one of several occasions on which his life was endangered. Later, traveling toHeiligenstadt,he was caught and nearlyhangedby a party of Protestant soldiers.^{[citation needed]}

From 1622 to 1624 Kircher was sent to begin hisregencyperiod inKoblenzas a teacher. This was followed by assignment toHeiligenstadt,where he taughtmathematics,Hebrew andSyriac,and produced a show offireworksand moving scenery for the visitingElector Archbishop of Mainz,showing early evidence of his interest inmechanical devices.He wasordainedto thepriesthoodin 1628^[3]and became professor ofethicsandmathematicsat theUniversity of Würzburg,where he also taught Hebrew and Syriac. Beginning in 1628, he began to show an interest in Egyptian hieroglyphs.

In 1631, while still atWürzburg,Kircher allegedly had a prophetic vision of bright light and armed men with horses in the city. Würzburg was attacked shortly afterwards and captured, leading to Kircher being accorded respect for predicting the disaster via astrology, though Kircher privately insisted that he had not relied on it.^[8]This was the year that Kircher published his first book (theArs Magnesia,reporting his research onmagnetism), but having been caught up in theThirty Years' Warhe was driven to the papalUniversity of AvignoninFrance.In 1633 he was called toViennaby theemperorto succeedKepleras Mathematician to theHabsburgcourt. On the intervention ofNicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc,the order was rescinded, and he was sent instead toRometo continue with his scholarly work, but he had already embarked for Vienna.

On the way, his ship was blown off course and he arrived in Rome before he knew of the changed destination. He based himself in the city for the rest of his life, and from 1634^[9]he taught mathematics,physicsandOriental languagesat the Collegio Romano (now thePontifical Gregorian University) for several years before being released to devote himself to research. He studiedmalariaand theplague,amassing a collection ofantiquities,which he exhibited along with devices of his own creation in theMuseum Kircherianum.

In 1661, Kircher discovered the ruins of achurchsaid to have been constructed byConstantineon the site ofSaint Eustace's vision of a crucifix in a stag's horns. He raised money to pay for the church's reconstruction as theSantuario della Mentorella[it],and his heart was buried in the church upon his death.^{[citation needed]}

Works[edit]

Kircher published many substantial books on a wide variety of subjects such asEgyptology,geology,andmusic theory.Hissyncreticapproach disregarded conventional boundaries between disciplines: hisMagnes,for example, ostensibly discussedmagnetism,but also explored other modes of attraction such asgravityandlove.Perhaps Kircher's best-known work isOedipus Aegyptiacus(1652–54), a vast study of Egyptology andcomparative religion.^[10]

His books, written inLatin,were widely circulated in the 17th century, and contributed to the wide dissemination of scientific information. Kircher is not considered to have made any significant original contributions, although some discoveries and inventions (e.g., themagic lantern) have sometimes been mistakenly attributed to him.^[10]

In his foreword toArs Magna Sciendi Sive Combinatoria(The Great Art of Knowledge, or the Combinatorial Art), the inscription reads:^[11]

"Nothing is more beautiful than to know all."

Linguistic and cultural studies[edit]

Egyptology[edit]

Thelast known exampleofEgyptian hieroglyphicsdates from AD 394, after which all knowledge of hieroglyphics was lost.^[12]UntilThomas YoungandJean-François Champollionfound the key to hieroglyphics in the 19th century, the main authority was the 4th-century Greek grammarianHorapollon,whose chief contribution was the misconception that hieroglyphics were "picture writing" and that future translators should look for symbolic meaning in the pictures.^[13]

The first modern study of hieroglyphics came withPiero Valeriano Bolzani'sHieroglyphica(1556).^[12]Kircher was the most famous of the "decipherers" between ancient and modern times and the most famous Egyptologist of his day.^[14]In hisLingua Aegyptiaca Restituta(1643), Kircher called hieroglyphics "this language hitherto unknown in Europe, in which there are as many pictures as letters, as many riddles as sounds, in short as many mazes to be escaped from as mountains to be climbed".^[14]While some of his notions are long discredited, portions of his work have been valuable to later scholars, and Kircher helped pioneer Egyptology as a field of serious study.

Athanasius Kircher, Prodromus Coptus Sive Aegyptiacus, Rome 1636

Kircher's interest in Egyptology began in 1628 when he became intrigued by a collection of hieroglyphs in the library atSpeyer.He learnedCopticin 1633 and published its first grammar in 1636, theProdromus coptus sive aegyptiacus.Kircher then broke with Horapollon's interpretation of hieroglyphs with hisLingua aegyptiaca restituta.Kircher argued that Coptic preserved the last development ofancient Egyptian.^[14]^[15]For this Kircher has been considered the true "founder of Egyptology", because his work was conducted "before the discovery of theRosetta Stonerendered Egyptian hieroglyphics comprehensible to scholars ".^[15]He also recognized the relationship betweenhieraticand hieroglyphic scripts.

Between 1650 and 1654, Kircher published four volumes of "translations" of hieroglyphs in the context of his Coptic studies.^[14]However, according to Steven Frimmer, "none of them even remotely fitted the original texts".^[14]InOedipus Aegyptiacus,Kircher argued under the impression of theHieroglyphicathatancient Egyptianwas the language spoken byAdam and Eve,thatHermes TrismegistuswasMoses,and that hieroglyphs wereoccult symbolswhich "cannot be translated by words, but expressed only by marks, characters and figures." This led him to translate the simple hieroglyphic textḏd Wsr( "Osiris says" ) as "The treachery of Typhon ends at the throne of Isis; the moisture of nature is guarded by the vigilance of Anubis"^[16]

EgyptologistE. A. Wallis Budgementioned Kircher as the foremost of writers who "pretended to have found the key to the hieroglyphics" and called his translations inOedipus Aegyptiacus"utter nonsense, but as they were put forth in a learned tongue many people at the time believed they were correct."^[17]Although Kircher's approach to deciphering texts was based on a fundamental misconception, some modern commentators have described Kircher as the pioneer of the serious study of hieroglyphs. The data which he collected were later consulted byChampollionin his successful efforts to decode the script. According to Joseph MacDonnell, it was "because of Kircher's work that scientists knew what to look for when interpreting the Rosetta stone".^[18]Another scholar of ancient Egypt, Erik Iversen, concluded:

It is, therefore, Kircher's incontestable merit that he was the first to have discovered the phonetic value of an Egyptian hieroglyph. From a humanistic as well as an intellectual point of view Egyptology may very well be proud of having Kircher as its founder.^[19]

Kircher was also actively involved in the erection of thePamphilj obelisk,and added "hieroglyphs" of his design in the blank areas.^[20]Rowland 2002 concluded that Kircher made use of Pythagorean principles to read hieroglyphs of thePamphili Obelisk,and used the same form of interpretation when reading scripture.^[21]

Sinology[edit]

Kircher had an early interest inChina,telling his superior in 1629 that he wished to become amissionaryto that country. In 1667 he published a treatise whose full title wasChina monumentis, qua sacris qua profanis, nec non variis naturae & artis spectaculis, aliarumque rerum memorabilium argumentis illustrata,and which is commonly known simply asChina Illustrata,i.e. "China Illustrated". It was a work of encyclopedic breadth, combining material of unequal quality, from accuratecartographyto mythical elements, such as a study ofdragons.The work drew heavily on the reports of Jesuits working in China, in particularMichael Boym^[22]andMartino Martini.

China Illustrataemphasized the Christian elements of Chinese history, both real and imagined: the book noted the early presence ofNestorian Christians(with a Latin translation of theNestorian SteleofXi'anprovided by Boym and his Chinese collaborator, Andrew Zheng),^[23]but also claimed that the Chinese were descended from the sons ofHam,thatConfuciuswas Hermes Trismegistus/Moses and that theChinese characterswere abstracted hieroglyphs.

In Kircher's system,ideogramswere inferior to hieroglyphs because they referred to specific ideas rather than to mysterious complexes of ideas, while the signs of theMayaandAztecswere yet lowerpictogramswhich referred only to objects.Umberto Ecocomments that this idea reflected and supported the ethnocentric European attitude toward Chinese and native American civilizations:

"China was presented not as an unknown barbarian to be defeated but as a prodigal son who should return to the home of the common father". (p. 69)

Biblical studies and exegesis[edit]

In 1675, he publishedArca Noë,the results of his research on the biblicalArk of Noah— following theCounter-Reformation,allegorical interpretationwas giving way to the study of the Old Testament as literal truth among Scriptural scholars. Kircher analyzed the dimensions of the Ark; based on the number of species known to him (excluding insects and other forms thought toarise spontaneously), he calculated that overcrowding would not have been a problem. He also discussed the logistics of the Ark voyage, speculating on whether extra livestock was brought to feed carnivores and what the daily schedule of feeding and caring for animals must have been.

Other cultural work[edit]

Kircher was sent theVoynich Manuscriptin 1666 byJohannes Marcus Marciin the hope of Kircher being able to decipher it.^[24]The manuscript remained in the Collegio Romano untilVictor Emmanuel II of Italyannexed thePapal Statesin 1870, though scepticism as to the authenticity of the story and of the origin of the manuscript itself exists. In hisPolygraphia Nova(1663), Kircher proposed an artificialuniversal language.

Physical sciences[edit]

Geology[edit]

Kircher's model of theEarth's internal fires, fromMundus Subterraneus.

On a visit tosouthern Italyin 1638, the ever-curious Kircher was lowered into thecraterofVesuvius,then on the brink of eruption, to examine its interior. He was also intrigued by thesubterranean rumblingwhich he heard at theStrait of Messina.His geological and geographical investigations culminated in hisMundus Subterraneusof 1664, in which he suggested that thetideswere caused by water moving to and from a subterraneanocean.

Kircher was also puzzled byfossils.He understood that fossils were the remains of animals. He ascribed large bones to giant races of humans.^[25]Not all the objects which he was attempting to explain were in fact fossils, hence the diversity of explanations. He interpreted mountain ranges as the Earth's skeletal structures exposed by weathering.^[26]

Mundus Subterraneusincludes several pages about the legendary island ofAtlantisincluding a map with the Latin caption "Situs Insulae Atlantidis, a Mari olim absorpte ex mente Egyptiorum et Platonis Description," translating as "Site of the island of Atlantis, in the sea, from Egyptian sources and Plato's description."^[27]

Biology[edit]

In his bookArca Noë,Kircher argued that after the Flood new species were transformed as they moved into different environments, for example, when adeermoved into a colder climate, it became areindeer.He wrote that many species were hybrids of other species, for example,armadillosfrom a combination ofturtlesandporcupines.He also advocated the theory ofspontaneous generation.^[28]Because of such hypotheses, some historians have held that Kircher was a proto-evolutionist.^[29]

Medicine[edit]

Theearsof a human, cow, horse, dog, leopard, cat, rat, pig, sheep and goose illustrated inMusurgia Universalis.

Kircher took a modern approach to the study ofdiseasesas early as 1646 by using amicroscopeto investigate thebloodofplaguevictims. In hisScrutinium Pestisof 1658, he observed the presence of "little worms" or "animalcules"in the blood and concluded that the disease was caused bymicroorganisms.That was correct, although it is likely that what he saw wereredorwhite blood cellsand not the plague agent,Yersinia pestis.He also proposedhygienicmeasures to prevent the spread of disease, such as isolation,quarantine,burning clothes worn by the infected and wearing facemasks to prevent the inhalation ofgerms.

Technology[edit]

In 1646, Kircher publishedArs Magna Lucis et Umbrae,concerning the display of images on a screen using an apparatus similar to themagic lanterndeveloped byChristiaan Huygensand others. Kircher described the construction of a "catoptric lamp" that used reflection to project images on the wall of a darkened room. Although Kircher did not invent the device, he improved it, and suggested methods by which exhibitors could use his device. Much of the significance of his work arises from Kircher's rational approach towards the demystification of projected images.^[30]

Previously, such images had been used in Europe to mimic supernatural appearances (Kircher himself cites the use of displayed images by the rabbis in the court ofKing Solomon). Kircher stressed that exhibitors should take great care to inform spectators that such images were purely naturalistic, and not magical.

Kircher constructed amagneticclock, which he explained in hisMagnes(1641). The clock had been invented by another Jesuit, Fr.Linus of Liege,and was described by an acquaintance of Line's in 1634. Kircher's patron Peiresc had claimed that the clock's motion supported theCopernicancosmological model, arguing that the magnetic sphere in the clock rotated by the magnetic force of thesun.^[31]

Kircher's model disproved that hypothesis, showing that the motion could be produced by awater clockin the base of the device. Although Kircher disputed theCopernicanmodel in hisMagnes,supporting instead that ofTycho Brahe,his laterItinerarium exstaticum(1656, revised 1671), presented several systems — including the Copernican — as distinct possibilities. The clock has been reconstructed by Caroline Bouguereau in collaboration with Michael John Gorman and is on display at the Green Library at Stanford University.^[31]

TheMusurgia Universalis(1650) sets out Kircher's views onmusic:he believed that theharmonyof music reflected the proportions of theuniverse.The book includes plans for constructing water-poweredautomatic organs,notationsofbirdsongand diagrams ofmusical instruments.One illustration shows the differences between theearsof humans and other animals. InPhonurgia Nova(1673) Kircher considered the possibilities of transmitting music to remote places.

Other machines designed by Kircher include anaeolian harp,automatonssuch as a statue which spoke and listened via aspeaking tube,aperpetual motion machine,and aKatzenklavier( "cat piano" ). The Katzenklavier would have driven spikes into the tails of cats, which would yowl to specifiedpitches,but was never constructed.

InPhonurgia Nova,literally "new methods of sound production", Kircher examined acoustic phenomena. He explored the use of horns and cones in amplifying sound for architectural applications. He also examined echoes in rooms using domes of different shapes, including the muffling effect of anelliptical domefrom Heidelberg. In one section he explored the therapeutic effects of music intarantism,a theme from southern Italy.^[32]

Combinatorics[edit]

Although Kircher's work was not mathematically based, he did develop systems for generating and counting all combinations of a finite collection of objects (i.e., a finiteset), based on the previous work ofRamon Llull.His methods and diagrams are discussed inArs Magna Sciendi, sive Combinatoria,1669. They include what may be the first recordeddrawingsofcomplete bipartite graphs,extending a similar technique used by Llull to visualizecomplete graphs.^[33]Kircher also employed combinatorics in hisArca Musarithmica,analeatoric musicdevice capable of composing millions of church hymns by combining randomly selected musical phrases.

Legacy[edit]

Scholarly influence[edit]

For most of his professional life, Kircher was one of the scientific stars of his world: according to historian Paula Findlen, he was "the first scholar with a global reputation". His importance was twofold: to the results of his ownexperimentsand research he added information gleaned from his correspondence with over 760 scientists, physicians and above all his fellow Jesuits in all parts of the globe. TheEncyclopædia Britannicacalls him a "one-man intellectual clearing house". His works, illustrated to his orders, were extremely popular, and he was the first scientist to be able to support himself through the sale of his books. His near-exact contemporary, the English philosopher-physician,Sir Thomas Browne(1605–82) collected his books avidly while his eldest son Edward Browne in 1665 visited the Jesuit priest resident at Rome. Towards the end of Kircher's life, however, his stock fell, as therationalist Cartesianapproach began to dominate (Descartes himself described Kircher as "more quacksalver than savant" ).

Cultural legacy[edit]

Kircher was largely neglected until the late 20th century. One writer attributes his rediscovery to the similarities between his eclectic approach andpostmodernism.

As few of Kircher's works have been translated, the contemporary emphasis has been on theiraestheticqualities rather than their actual content, and a succession of exhibitions have highlighted the beauty of their illustrations. HistorianAnthony Graftonhas said that "the staggeringly strange dark continent of Kircher's work [is] the setting for aBorgesstory that was never written ", whileUmberto Ecohas written about Kircher in his novelThe Island of the Day Before,as well as in his non-fiction worksThe Search for the Perfect LanguageandSerendipities.In the historical novelImprimaturbyMonaldi & Sorti(2002), Kircher plays a major role. Shortly after his death, some travelers are locked up in a hotel in Baroque Rome by the papal health authorities because of an epidemic of plague. Kircher's theory about the healing power of music is remembered by the protagonists in various flashbacks and finally provides the key to the puzzle. InWhere Tigers Are At Home,byJean-Marie Blas de Roblès,the protagonist works on a translation of a bogus 17th-century biography of Kircher. The contemporary artistCybèle Varelahas paid tribute to Kircher in her exhibitionAd Sidera per Athanasius Kircher,held in theCollegio Romano,in the same place where theMuseum Kircherianumwas.

TheMuseum of Jurassic TechnologyinLos Angeleshas a hall dedicated to the life of Kircher. His ethnographic collection is in thePigorini National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnographyin Rome.

John Glassie's book,A Man of Misconceptions,traces connections between Kircher and figures such asGianlorenzo Bernini,René Descartes,andIsaac Newton.It also suggests influences onEdgar Allan Poe,Franz Anton Mesmer,Jules Verne,andMarcel Duchamp.

In the end, Glassie writes, Kircher should be acknowledged “for his effort to know everything and to share everything he knew, for asking a thousand questions about the world around him, and for getting so many others to ask questions about his answers; for stimulating, as well as confounding and inadvertently amusing, so many minds; for having been a source of so many ideas—right, wrong, half-right, half-baked, ridiculous, beautiful, and all-encompassing.”^[34]

In popular culture[edit]

Kircher's life and research are central to the plot ofJames Rollin's2015 novelThe Bone Labyrinth.

He is also mentioned inThe Book of Life,the third book in the All Souls Trilogy byDeborah Harkness.

He further appears in two separate episodes inDaniel Kehlmann'snovelTyll(2017).

The permanent exhibitionThe World Is Bound with Secret Knotsat theMuseum of Jurassic Technologyis based on the life and work of Kircher and uses elaborate 3D technology to highlight the magical quality of many of his ideas and images.^[35]

He is also a character (though largely off-stage, he is often mentioned by other characters) in the "Ring of Fire"alternate history series (published by Baen). In it, he was sent back to Germany in the early 1630s, where he became the unofficial pastor of the Catholic church in the temporally-transplanted town of Grantville, Thuringia-Franconia.

Kircher features as a favourite author ofFather ChmielowskiinOlga Tokarczuk'sThe Books of Jacob.

Bibliography[edit]

Kircher's principal works, in chronological order, are:

Year	Title	Link
1631	Ars Magnesia
1635	Primitiae gnomoniciae catroptricae
1636	Prodromus coptus sive aegyptiacus
1637	Specula Melitensis Encyclica,hoc est syntagma novum instrumentorum physico- mathematicorum
1641	Magnes sive de Arte Magnetica	1643 edition(second ed.)
1643	Lingua Aegyptiaca Restituta
1645–1646	Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae	1646 edition
1650	Obeliscus Pamphilius: hoc est, Interpretatio noua & Hucusque Intentata Obelisci Hieroglyphici	1650 edition
1650	Musurgia universalis, sive ars magna consoni et dissoni	Volumes IandII,1650
1652–1655	Oedipus Aegyptiacus
1654	Magnes sive de Arte Magnetica(third, expanded edition)	Text
1656	Itinerarium exstaticum s. opificium coeleste
1657	Iter exstaticum secundum, mundi subterranei prodromus
1658	Scrutinium Physico-Medicum Contagiosae Luis, quae dicitur Pestis
1660	Iter extaticum coeleste	1660 edition
1660	Pantometrum Kircherianum... explicatumaG. Schotto
1661	Diatribe de Progidiosis Crucibus
1663	Polygraphia nova et universalis ex combinatoria arte directa
1664–1678	Mundus subterraneus, quo universae denique naturae divitiae	Tomus II, 1678 Digital edition Tomus I/IIby theUniversity and State Library Düsseldorf
1665	Historia Eustachio Mariana	1665 edition
1665	Arithmologia sive De abditis numerorum mysterijs	1665 edition
1666	Obelisci Aegyptiaci... interpretatio hieroglyphica
1667	China monumentis, qua sacris qua profanis, nec non variis naturae & artis spectaculis, aliarumque rerum memorabilium argumentis illustrata	Latin edition (1667)(pages with illustrations only);La Chine,1670(French, 1670);Modern English translation
1667	Magneticum naturae regnum sive disceptatio physiologica	1667 edition
1668	Organum mathematicum(contributor, edited and published byGaspar Schott)
1669	Principis Cristiani archetypon politicum	1672 edition
1669	Latium	1671 edition
1669	Ars magna sciendi sive combinatoria	1669 edition
1673	Phonurgia Nova,sive conjugium mechanico-physicum artis & natvrae paranympha phonosophia concinnatum	1763 edition
1675	Arca Noë
1676	Sphinx mystagoga: sive Diatribe hieroglyphica, qua Mumiae, ex Memphiticis Pyramidum Adytis Erutae…	1676 edition
1676	Obelisci Aegyptiaci
1679	Musaeum Collegii Romani Societatis Jesu
1679	Turris Babel,Sive Archontologia Qua Primo Priscorum post diluvium hominum vita, mores rerumque gestarum magnitudo, Secundo Turris fabrica civitatumque exstructio, confusio linguarum, & inde gentium transmigrationis, cum principalium inde enatorum idiomatum historia, multiplici eruditione describuntur & explicantur.Amsterdam, Jansson-Waesberge 1679.
1679	Tariffa Kircheriana sive mensa Pythagorica expansa	1679 edition
1680	Physiologia Kircheriana experimentalis	1680 edition

Notes[edit]

^Glassie, p. 246
^Woods, p. 108.
^^a ^b ^c"Athanasius Kircher".Britannica Online.Encyclopædia Britannica.RetrievedJune 4,2016.
^Cutler, p. 68.
^John Glassie: A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change. New York, Riverhead, 2012, p. xiv.
^Glassie, p. xv.
^Fletcher, John Edward (2011-08-25).A Study of the Life and Works of Athanasius Kircher, 'Germanus Incredibilis': With a Selection of His Unpublished Correspondence and an Annotated Translation of His Autobiography.BRILL.ISBN 978-9004207127.
^Newman & Grafton, 1-2
^Fletcher 2011, p. 31.
^^a ^b"Kircher, Athanasius." Encyclopædia Britannica fromEncyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite.(2008).
^Craig P. Bauer (2010).Unsolved! The History and Mystery of the World's Greatest Ciphers from Ancient Egypt to Online Secret Societies.Princeton University Press. p. 35.ISBN 9780691167671.
^^a ^bFrimmer, p 37
^Frimmer, pp 37–39
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eFrimmer, p 38
^^a ^bWoods, p 109
^for such translations, see e.g. hisSphinx mystagoga,p. 49.
^Budge, E. A. Wallis(1983) [1910].Egyptian Language: Easy Lessons in Egyptian Hieroglyphics.Mineola, NY: Dover. p. 15.ISBN 9780486140568.
^MacDonnell, p 12
^Iversen, pp 97–98
^John Edward Fletcher (25 August 2011).A Study of the Life and Works of Athanasius Kircher, 'Germanus Incredibilis': With a Selection of His Unpublished Correspondence and an Annotated Translation of His Autobiography.BRILL. pp. 549–.ISBN 978-90-04-20712-7.
^Ingrid D. Rowland (2002)."Athanasius Kircher and the Egyptian Oedipus".University of Chicago Library.
^Walravens, Hartmut,Michael Boym und die Flora Sinensis(PDF),archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2011-09-27
^China IllustrataArchivedAugust 18, 2011, at theWayback Machine;Modern English translation and preface by Dr Charles D. Van Tuyl
^Tiltman, John H. (Summer 1967).The Voynich Manuscript: "The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World"(PDF).Vol. XII. NSA Technical Journal. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on October 18, 2011.RetrievedOctober 30,2011.
^Palmer, Douglas (2005) Earth Time: Exploring the Deep Past from Victorian England to the Grand Canyon. Wiley, Chichester.ISBN 978-0-470-02221-4
^The Earth– Richard Fortey, Harper Perennial 2004
^"Map of the lost island of Atlantis".raremaps.com.Retrieved16 February2013.
^O Breidbach, MT Ghiselin (2006).Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) on Noah's Ark: Baroque "Intelligent Design" Theory,Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Volume 57, No. 36, pp. 991–1002 <"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2011-10-09.Retrieved2011-07-12.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)>
^Fairfield Osborn, Henry (1902) From the Greeks to Darwin: An Outline of the Development of the Evolution Idea. MacMillan: London, page 106
^Musser, p 613
^^a ^bAthanasius Kircher's Magnetic Clock ArchivedAugust 16, 2010, at theWayback Machine,accessed 23 Apr 2011
^Tronchin, Lamberto; Durvilli, I.; Tarabusi, V. (2008).The 'Phonurgia Nova' of Athanasius Kircher: The Marvellous sound world of 17th century.Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics. p. 015002.doi:10.1121/1.2992053.
^Knuth, Donald E.(2013), "Two thousand years of combinatorics", in Wilson, Robin; Watkins, John J. (eds.),Combinatorics: Ancient and Modern,Oxford University Press, pp. 7–37.
^Glassie, p 272.
^"The World is Bound With Secret Knots".Museum of Jurassic Technology.RetrievedMay 13,2020.

References[edit]

Chang, Sheng-Ching (2001).Das Chinabild in Natur und Landschaft von Athanasius Kirchers 'China illustrata' ( 1667 ) sowie der Einfluß dieses Werkes auf die Entwicklung der Chinoiserie und der Europäischen Kunst[The image of China in nature and landscape of Athanasius Kircher’s 'China illustrata' (1667) and the influence of his work on the development of Chinoiserie and European Art] (PhD) (in German).Humboldt University.
Chang, Sheng-Ching (2003).Natur und Landschaft - Der Einfluss von Athanasius Kirchers "China Illustrata" auf die europäische Kunst.Berlin:Reimer.ISBN 978-3496012801.
Cutler, Alan (2003).The Seashell on the Mountaintop.New York:Dutton.
Frimmer, Steven (1969).The stone that spoke: and other clues to the decipherment of lost languages.Putnam.
Iversen, Erik (1961).The Myth of Egypt and its Hieroglyphs.Copenhagen.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Kern, Ralf (2010).Wissenschaftliche Instrumente in ihrer Zeit(in German). Vol. 2: Vom Compendium zum Einzelinstrument 17. Jahrhundert. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König.ISBN 978-3-86560-866-6.
MacDonnell, Joseph (1989).Jesuit Geometers.St Louis:Institute of Jesuit Sources.
Musser, Charles(1990).The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907.University of California Press.ISBN 0-520-08533-7.
Newman, William R.;Grafton, Anthony(2001). "Introduction: The Problematic Status of Astrology and Alchemy in Premodern Europe".Secrets of Nature: Astrology and Alchemy in Early Modern Europe.MIT Press.pp.1–38.ISBN 0-262-14075-6.
Woods, Thomas(2005).How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization.Washington, DC:Regnery Publishing.ISBN 0-89526-038-7.

External links[edit]

Works by Kircher[edit]

Athanasius KircherHerzog August Bibliothek (Wolfenbütteler Digitale Bibliothek... search forAthanasius Kircher)
The Correspondence of Athanasius KircherinEMLO
Athanasius KircherECHO (European Cultural Heritage Online)
Athanasius KircherMax Planck Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte
Athanasius KircherGallica
Athanasius KircherTitles;Athanasius Kircheras authorbooks.google.com
Athanasius Kircherarchive.org
Athanasius KircherMunich Digitisation Centre (MDZ)
Athanasius KircherUniversity of Strasbourg
Ars magna lucis et umbrae in decem libros digesta(1646) in the digital collections of the Linda Hall Library
Iter exstaticum coeleste, quo mundi opificium...(1660) in the digital collections of the Linda Hall Library
Mundus subterraneus(1665) in the digital collections of the Linda Hall Library
Arca Noë(1675) in the digital collections of the Linda Hall Library
An English translation ofChina Illustrataappearing as an "Appendix" in:Johan Nieuhof,An embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham, emperor of China: delivered by their excellencies Peter de Goyer and Jacob de Keyzer, at his imperial city of Peking wherein the cities, towns, villages, ports, rivers, &c. in their passages from Canton to Peking are ingeniously described by John Nieuhoff; also an epistle of Father John Adams, their antagonist, concerning the whole negotiation; with an appendix of several remarks taken out of Father Athanasius Kircher; Englished and set forth with their several sculptures by John Ogilby(1673)

Sources[edit]

Athanasius Kircher Projectat Historical Archives of the Pontifical Gregorian University
Athanasius Kircher, Dude of WondersRetrieved Mar. 9, 2009.
Athanasius Kircher Image GalleryRetrieved Mar. 9, 2009.
Athanasius Kircher's Magnetic ClockInternet Archive.
Hans-Josef Olszewsky (1992). "Kircher, Athanasius". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.).Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL)(in German). Vol. 3. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 1513–1517.ISBN 3-88309-035-2.
Catholic EncyclopediaRetrieved Oct. 16, 2004.
Glasgow University Library:Musurgia UniversalisRetrieved Oct. 16, 2004.
Infoplease: Athanasius KircherRetrieved Oct. 16, 2004.
The Correspondence of Athanasius KircherinEMLO
The Correspondence of Athanasius KircherInternet Archive
Hajdu, Steven I (Summer 2002)."The First Use of the Microscope in Medicine".Annals of Clinical & Laboratory Science.32(3): 309–310.PMID 12175096.Retrieved15 October2020.
The Galileo ProjectRetrieved Oct. 16, 2004.
Owners of the Voynich ManuscriptRetrieved Feb. 3, 2005.
The World is Bound With Secret KnotsRetrieved Oct. 16, 2004.
Voynich MS – BiographiesRetrieved Oct. 16, 2004.

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