Michael Sendivogius
Michael Sendivogius | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 2 February 1566 |
| Died | 1636(aged 69–70) |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Other names | Sędziwój, Sędzimir |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna,University of Altdorf,University of Leipzig,University of Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Alchemist,philosopher,writer, and medical doctor |
| Known for | The concept ofcentral nitre |
Michael Sendivogius(/ˌsɛndɪˈvoʊdʒiəs/;Polish:Michał Sędziwój;2 February 1566 – 1636) was a Polishalchemist,philosopher,and medical doctor. A pioneer of chemistry, he developed ways of purification and creation of variousacids,metalsand other chemical compounds. He discovered that air is not a single substance and contains a life-giving substance—later calledoxygen—170 years beforeScheele'sdiscovery of the element. He correctly identified this "food of life" with the gas (also oxygen) given off by heating nitre (saltpetre).[1]This substance, the "central nitre", had a central position in Sendivogius' schema of the universe.[2]
Biography
[edit]
Little is known of his early life: he was born into a noble family that was part of theClan of Ostoja.[3]His father sent him to study in university ofKrakówbut Sendivogius visited also most of theEuropeancountries and universities; he studied atVienna,Altdorf,LeipzigandCambridge.His acquaintances includedJohn DeeandEdward Kelley.It was thanks to him that KingStephen Báthoryagreed to finance their experiments.[4]In the 1590s, he was active inPrague,at the famously open-minded court of EmperorRudolf II.
In Poland, he appeared at the court of KingSigismund III Vasaaround 1600, and quickly achieved great fame, as the Polish king was himself an alchemy enthusiast and even conducted experiments with Sendivogius. InKraków'sWawelcastle, the chamber where his experiments were performed is still intact. The more conservative Polish nobles soon came to dislike him for encouraging the king to expend vast sums of money on chemical experimentation. The more practical aspects of his work in Poland involved the design ofminesand metalfoundries.His widespread international contacts led to his employment as a diplomat from about 1600.
In his later years, Sendivogius spent more time in Bohemia and Moravia (now in theCzech Republic), where he had been granted lands by the Habsburg emperor. Near the end of his life, he settled inPrague,in the court of Rudolf II, where he gained even more fame as a designer of metal mines andfoundries.However theThirty Years' Warof 1618-48 had effectively ended the golden age of alchemy: the rich patrons now spent their money on financing war rather than chemical speculation, and he died in relative obscurity.
Works
[edit]Daniel Stolciusin hisViridarium Chymicum(1624) praises Sendivogius as the author of twelve books.[5]The most famous of these was his "New Chemical Light", published in 1604. Besides a relatively clear exposition of his theory on the existence of a"food of life"in air, his books contain various scientific, pseudo-scientific and philosophical theories, and were repeatedly translated and widely read among such worthies asIsaac Newtoninto the 18th century.
Sendivogius in fiction
[edit]
The first appearance of this character in fiction was in the 1845 bookSędziwojbyJózef Bohdan Dziekoński,a writer during the times ofromanticism in Poland.[6]In early 2000s he appeared in several books by the Polish writerAndrzej Pilipiuk(Kuzynki2003,Księżniczka2004,Dziedziczki2005).[7]Sendivogius is also a character in the novel ofGustav Meyrink(part ofGoldmachergeschichten, August Scherl Verlag, Berlin 1925), a German author from Prague, Bohemia, who often wrote about alchemy and alchemists.
The Polish 19th-century realist painterJan Matejkodepicted Sendivogius demonstrating a transmutation of a base metal into gold before KingSigismund III Vasa.[8]
He was also shown (thinly disguised) as the Alchemist Sendivogius in a Polish TV seriesAlchemik Sendiviusin the 1980s.[9]
Writings
[edit]- De Lapide Philosophorum Tractatus duodecim e naturae fonte et manuali experientia deprompti.1604.
- Also known asNovum Lumen Chymicum(New Chemical Light), the first Latin editions were published simultaneously in Prague and Frankfurt.[5]
- Dialogus Mercuriii, Alchemistae et Naturae.Cologne, 1607.
- Tractatus de sulphure altero naturae principio.Cologne, 1616.
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^"MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS, ROSICRUCIAN, and FATHER OF STUDIES OF OXYGEN"
- ^Allen G. Debus,Chemistry and Medical Debate: Van Helmont to Boerhaave,Science History Publication, 2001, p. 13 n. 19.
- ^Miguel López-Pérez (ed.),Chymia: Science and Nature in Medieval and Early Modern Europe,Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010, p. 197.
- ^Praktyk i mistyk,Andrzej Datko, Wiedza i życie(2012-06-12) (in Polish)
- ^abPrinke, Rafal T. (1990)."Michael Sendivogius and Christian Rosenkruetz The Unexpected Possibilities".The Hermetic Journal:72–98.
- ^Wybory popkultury: Relacje kultury popularnej z polityką, ideologią i społeczeństwem(in Polish). Stowarzyszenie Badaczy Popkultury i Edukacji Popkulturowej Trickster. 2015-01-18. p. 28.ISBN978-83-64863-00-4.
- ^Kaczor, Katarzyna (2014).Bogactwo polskich światów fantasy. Od braku nadziei ku eukatastrophe(in Polish). Gdański Klub Fantastyki.ISBN978-83-938843-0-8.
- ^Ciciora, Barbara (2005).Jan Matejko(in Polish). Bosz. p. 42.ISBN978-83-89747-16-7.
- ^"ALCHEMIK SENDIVIUS".www.filmweb.pl.Filmweb.Retrieved2024-01-08.
References
[edit]- Prinke, Rafał T. “Beyond Patronage: Michael Sendivogius and the Meanings of Success in Alchemy”In Chymia: Science and Nature in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, edited by Miguel López Pérez, Didier Kahn, and Mar Rey Bueno. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010.
- Prinke, Rafal T.MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS and CHRISTIAN ROSENKREUTZ The Unexpected Possibilities,The Hermetic Journal(1990), 72-98.
- Prinke, Rafał T. “Nolite Me Inquirere (Nechtějte se po mně ptáti): Michael Sendivogius.” InAlchymie a Rudolf II: Hledání Tajemství Přírody ve Střední Evropě v 16. a 17. Století,edited by Ivo Purš and Vladimír Karpenko, 317–35. Praha: Artefactum, 2011.
- Sendivogius, Michael.The Alchemical Letters of Michael Sendivogius to the Rosicrucian Society.Holmes Pub Group Llc.ISBN1-55818-404-X
- Szydło, Zbigniew.Water which does not wet hands. The alchemy of Michael Sendivogius.London-Warsaw, 1994.
- Polish edition:Woda, która nie moczy rąk. Alchemia Michała Sędziwoja..Wydawnictwa Naukowo-Techniczne: Warszawa, 1997.
External links
[edit]- Sendivogius.pl,website about the life and works of MIchal Sedziwoj
- MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS and CHRISTIAN ROSENKREUTZ: The Unexpected Possibilities online
- LETTERS OF MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS TO THE ROSEYCRUSIAN SOCIETY FOUND IN AN OLD MANUSCRIPT BY EBENEZER SIBLY M.D. 1791
- A letter from Michael Sendivogius to Vincenzo II Gonzaga, duke of Mantua (1562-1612)
- The 16th Century Alchemist Who Discovered Oxygen
- TRANSMUTATION,an episode of the podcast Stories From The Eastern West all about Sendivogius and alchemy in the Middle Ages
- Works by Michael Sendivogiusin digital libraryPolona
