Cycles
Sky Map
Reader
Reading
Time
Gematria
Sigils
Revelations
Urim & Thummim
Psalms
Codes
Athanasius Kircher
1602–1680 · Germany / Rome (Jesuit)
Description
Athanasius Kircher was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jesuit Roger Joseph Boscovich and to Leonardo da Vinci for his vast range of interests, and has been honoured with the title "Master of a Hundred Arts". He taught for more than 40 years at the Roman College, where he set up a wunderkammer or cabinet of curiosities that would become the Kircherian Museum. A resurgence of interest in Kircher has occurred within the scholarly community in recent decades.
Facts
| Born | 2 May 1601/1602, Geisa, Princely Abbey of Fulda |
| Died | 27 November 1680 (aged 78 or 79), Rome, Papal States |
| Institutions | University of WürzburgUniversity of AvignonPontifical Gregorian University |
Life & work in brief
Summarised by section — one row per topic, for fast reading.
| Work / contribution | Significance |
|---|---|
| Life | Kircher was born on 2 May in either 1601 or 1602 (he himself did not know) in Geisa, Buchonia, near Fulda (Hessen, Germany). |
| Works | Kircher published many substantial books on a wide variety of subjects such as Egyptology, geology, and music theory. |
| Legacy | For most of his professional life, Kircher was one of the scientific stars of his world: according to historian Paula Findlen, he "had a global reputation that was virtually unsurpassed by any early modern author". |
| In popular culture | Kircher's life and research are central to the plot of James Rollin's 2015 novel The Bone Labyrinth. |
| Bibliography | Kircher's principal works, in chronological order, are: |