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Athanasius Kircher: The Last Man Who Knew Everything
Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680)—German Jesuit, occultist, polymath—was one of most curious figures in the history of science. He dabbled in all the mysteries of his time: the heavenly bodies, sound amplification, museology, botany, Asian languages, the pyramids of Egypt—almost anything incompletely understood. Kircher coined the term electromagnetism, printed Sanskrit for the first time in a Western book, and built a famous museum collection. His wild, beautifully illustrated books are sometimes visionary, frequently wrong, and yet compelling documents in the history of ideas. They are being rediscovered in our own time. This volume contains new essays on Kircher and his world by leading historians and historians of science, including Stephen Jay Gould, Ingrid Rowland, Anthony Grafton, Daniel Stoltzenberg, Paula Findlen, and Barbara Stafford.
480 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2004
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About the author
Paula Findlen
21 books10 followersPaula Findlen (1964- ) is an American academic and historian, whose work focuses on the history of science and medicine, and the history of the Renaissance. She was educated at Wellesley College (BA), and the University of California, Berkeley (MA & PhD). Findlen is Professor of Early Modern Europe and History of Science, Ubaldo Pierotti Professor of Italian History, and Co-Director of the Suppes Center for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at Stanford University. Her book, Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy was given the Pfizer Award in 1996 by the History of Science Society.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 16, 2014
Excellent book with an excellent title.
Athanasius Kircher is perhaps known to literature fans as the early modern source that passed along the 'manuscript' written down by Adso from Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. It was a good choice by Eco: is there was such a thing as a "Renaissance Man" - man interested in absolutely everything - it was Athanasius Kircher. He wrote over thirty books during his lifetime, all of which he promoted extensively as often as possible, and he promised a litany of other books that he just never quite got around to writing. He wrote on Egyptian history, mysticism, volcanoes, medicine, epistemology, and more. He was heralded by contemporaries as both a magnificent genius and as a crackpot, often for the same things. This volume of essays suggests that this dichotomy arose because Kircher stood on the brink between two worlds: one in which it was possible to "know everything" and one in which knowledge was accumulating at such a rapid rate that specialization was necessary. Positioned here, Kircher was increasingly called out by experts but still retained an international reputation for his massive breadth of knowledge as well as for the massive web of communication in maintained with fellow Jesuits around the world. He was frequently mocked, but the same people who mocked him continued to buy all of his books and seemed to hang on his every word. As Paula Findlen notes in her introduction,
Much of Kircher's career was forshadowed early on, in his relationship with his mentor Peirsec. Peirsec was a noted antiquarian of the period, and he was impressed by Kircher's curiosity and enthusiasm but rather concerned about his, ahem, lack of methodological precision. Peirsec, who must have been a very perceptive fellow, decided that his pupil would perhaps be the most helpful to the scientific community by functioning as the heart of a global Jesuit network: even if his own skill was limited, his curiosity and communication could help push the field as a whole. And Peirsec proved to be write: after sending his student to Rome, Kircher became hugely popular almost immediately, with rumors flying around that he had secret manuscripts from all his trips to the Orient (he had never been there, but probably didn’t feel the need to disabuse people).
Findlen also emphasizes the importance of Christianity to Kircher. His insistence on learning everything about the world was centered on his belief that the entire world was tied together. This unity was predicated on God: the Christian God, primarily (he was a Jesuit, after all), but with a heavy strand of ecumenicism that emphasized the interconnectivity of world religions. The most colorful example of this comes from a period of sickness near the end of Kircher's life. He decided to self medicate himself (because he figured he knew more than the doctors, presumably) and slid immediately into a fever dream in which he was elected pope and transformed the world in accordance with his secret knowledge. I like to think that this sums him up well.
All of this happens in the introduction (!) of this book. If you'd like to read it you can also learn about epidemiology, Kabbalah, Coptic studies, the Roman Inquisition, early modern ideas of extraterrestrial life, magnets, and dinosaur fossils.
Athanasius Kircher is perhaps known to literature fans as the early modern source that passed along the 'manuscript' written down by Adso from Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. It was a good choice by Eco: is there was such a thing as a "Renaissance Man" - man interested in absolutely everything - it was Athanasius Kircher. He wrote over thirty books during his lifetime, all of which he promoted extensively as often as possible, and he promised a litany of other books that he just never quite got around to writing. He wrote on Egyptian history, mysticism, volcanoes, medicine, epistemology, and more. He was heralded by contemporaries as both a magnificent genius and as a crackpot, often for the same things. This volume of essays suggests that this dichotomy arose because Kircher stood on the brink between two worlds: one in which it was possible to "know everything" and one in which knowledge was accumulating at such a rapid rate that specialization was necessary. Positioned here, Kircher was increasingly called out by experts but still retained an international reputation for his massive breadth of knowledge as well as for the massive web of communication in maintained with fellow Jesuits around the world. He was frequently mocked, but the same people who mocked him continued to buy all of his books and seemed to hang on his every word. As Paula Findlen notes in her introduction,
"At the height of his career, Kircher created a kind of typographical labyrinth that temporarily trapped all the best minds of the mid-seventeenth century inside of his books... He belonged to an era that combined rather than divided, that took delight in finding unlikely connections in the service of a grand unified theory of absolutely everything."
Much of Kircher's career was forshadowed early on, in his relationship with his mentor Peirsec. Peirsec was a noted antiquarian of the period, and he was impressed by Kircher's curiosity and enthusiasm but rather concerned about his, ahem, lack of methodological precision. Peirsec, who must have been a very perceptive fellow, decided that his pupil would perhaps be the most helpful to the scientific community by functioning as the heart of a global Jesuit network: even if his own skill was limited, his curiosity and communication could help push the field as a whole. And Peirsec proved to be write: after sending his student to Rome, Kircher became hugely popular almost immediately, with rumors flying around that he had secret manuscripts from all his trips to the Orient (he had never been there, but probably didn’t feel the need to disabuse people).
Findlen also emphasizes the importance of Christianity to Kircher. His insistence on learning everything about the world was centered on his belief that the entire world was tied together. This unity was predicated on God: the Christian God, primarily (he was a Jesuit, after all), but with a heavy strand of ecumenicism that emphasized the interconnectivity of world religions. The most colorful example of this comes from a period of sickness near the end of Kircher's life. He decided to self medicate himself (because he figured he knew more than the doctors, presumably) and slid immediately into a fever dream in which he was elected pope and transformed the world in accordance with his secret knowledge. I like to think that this sums him up well.
All of this happens in the introduction (!) of this book. If you'd like to read it you can also learn about epidemiology, Kabbalah, Coptic studies, the Roman Inquisition, early modern ideas of extraterrestrial life, magnets, and dinosaur fossils.
March 29, 2020
What I would really like is an English translation of some of Kircher's books. Lacking that, though, I have found a few books with scholarly commentary on various works that place his writings in context. This one I got through interlibrary loan.
I enjoyed seeing an engraving of the Roman College museum that Kircher ran. His books were spread around the world, but he also worked with Jesuits around the world to bring knowledge together. One of his projects involved collecting information about magnetic deviation from true north around the world as a means of determining longitude. I had not really understood what his universal translation device consisted of-- it was essentially a look-up table for a limited vocabulary, as well as some grammatical notation (what part a role played in the sentence). I also admired his arrangement of magnets that could be used to send messages: a kind of early radio transmission.
The discussion of his categorization of fossils was enlightening. I had thought, from just perusing the pictures in Mundus Subterraneus that he was deeply confused about where fossils came from. But it turns out he more or less had the right idea. The examples he gives of things that aren’t fossils but pareidolia he points out as such.
I enjoyed seeing an engraving of the Roman College museum that Kircher ran. His books were spread around the world, but he also worked with Jesuits around the world to bring knowledge together. One of his projects involved collecting information about magnetic deviation from true north around the world as a means of determining longitude. I had not really understood what his universal translation device consisted of-- it was essentially a look-up table for a limited vocabulary, as well as some grammatical notation (what part a role played in the sentence). I also admired his arrangement of magnets that could be used to send messages: a kind of early radio transmission.
The discussion of his categorization of fossils was enlightening. I had thought, from just perusing the pictures in Mundus Subterraneus that he was deeply confused about where fossils came from. But it turns out he more or less had the right idea. The examples he gives of things that aren’t fossils but pareidolia he points out as such.
January 29, 2015
A collection of articles on Athanasius Kircher's life and work. Paula Findlen's Introduction is characterized by wit and originality. Because Athanasius Kircher was "inviting his readers to explore the connections among virtually every imaginable form of knowledge" (p.19), as a genuine polymath and searcher of truth as he was, the contributors of the volume are dealing with many different subjects, from many different sciences, which at the time of Kircher hadn't been developed fully yet.
At his time Kircher was considered as a "baroque magus bearing gifts from the East", and his books as conveying unknown knowledge, part of which was about ignored civilizations and languages. He boasted he had discovered the keys for deciphering strange ancient languages, as were the egyptian hieroglyphics, or that he could understand contemporary exotic tongues e.g. chinese.
Even if at his time was considered among the most brilliant and leading science writers, because of his credulity, he incorporated in his books invalid and usually incorrect informations. This had as result to be ridiculous among the next generations. But today is recognised as a pioneer of scientific research.
I learned about him for first time when I read Umberto Eco's Foucault's Prendulum in late 80's. Today his books are the imagination of every bibliophile. The objects, animals and theories featuring in his books make themselves an immense cabinet of curiosities, along with the other Wunderkammer, the museum of strange inventions and objects he founded in Rome. As a characterization of clemency and grandeur for his work would fit the expression "sometimes, even good Homer nots", as Stephen Jay Gould wrote (ibid., p.236) in his profound article on paleontology.
At his time Kircher was considered as a "baroque magus bearing gifts from the East", and his books as conveying unknown knowledge, part of which was about ignored civilizations and languages. He boasted he had discovered the keys for deciphering strange ancient languages, as were the egyptian hieroglyphics, or that he could understand contemporary exotic tongues e.g. chinese.
Even if at his time was considered among the most brilliant and leading science writers, because of his credulity, he incorporated in his books invalid and usually incorrect informations. This had as result to be ridiculous among the next generations. But today is recognised as a pioneer of scientific research.
I learned about him for first time when I read Umberto Eco's Foucault's Prendulum in late 80's. Today his books are the imagination of every bibliophile. The objects, animals and theories featuring in his books make themselves an immense cabinet of curiosities, along with the other Wunderkammer, the museum of strange inventions and objects he founded in Rome. As a characterization of clemency and grandeur for his work would fit the expression "sometimes, even good Homer nots", as Stephen Jay Gould wrote (ibid., p.236) in his profound article on paleontology.
September 13, 2008
about this book: Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) -- German Jesuit, occultist, polymath - was one of most curious figures in the history of science. He dabbled in all the mysteries of his time: the heavenly bodies, sound amplification, museology, botany, Asian languages, the pyramids of Egypt -- almost anything incompletely understood. Kircher coined the term electromagnetism, printed Sanskrit for the first time in a Western book, and built a famous museum collection. His wild, beautifully illustrated books are sometimes visionary, frequently wrong, and yet compelling documents in the history of ideas. They are being rediscovered in our own time. This volume contains new essays on Kircher and his world by leading historians and historians of science, including Stephen Jay Gould, Ingrid Rowland, Anthony Grafton, Daniel Stoltzenberg, Paula Findlen, and Barbara Stafford.-
August 4, 2008
Kircher excites me almost as much as Garibaldi!
Want to read
February 24, 2013This is a collection of essays by different scholars. So I will probably read it slowly over the course of the three weeks I have it out from the library.
Want to read
March 25, 2023Not sure which to read, right now 3 choices, when I'm ready to read I'll decide
this is the one on five books, a collection of essays
this is the one on five books, a collection of essays
Read
July 6, 2017I discovered Athanasius Kircher the way a lot of people do - through the exhibit of his work at the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Little did I know that Kircher himself founded and curated one of the early museums of curiosities. As you read through these essays, you feel the scale of the world bearing down upon you. We must give thanks then to the Kirchers, the Jurassic Technologists, the Walter Alvarezs and others who take such an exuberant and inspiring approach to learning.
Of course, there is folly in trying to take the entire world into the jaws of your understanding. Kircher seems to have been a bit of easy mark for fabulists and tellers of tall tales, and earned guffaws and ridicule from many of his contemporaries in the world of natural philosophy for his credulous publication of all kinds of nonsense as veritable.
There's a sort of Huge If True level of gullibility Kircher exhibited. But is this the curse of the polymath? If you're following your curiosity to its horizon, you'll probably swallow a few whoppers in the process. To paraphrase Francis Wheen, if you open your mind too much your brain might fall out.
Incidentally, I had intended to read this book for some time, and finally decided on reading it next while I was reading Italo Calvino's If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. Then blam in the middle of that novel there's an extended to Kircher and one of the infernal machines he invented. Calvino's reference to Kircher is then discussed in the introductory essay in this book. It's a conspiracy, I'm sure of it. The world wants me to Kircherize, endlessly, and so I shall.
Of course, there is folly in trying to take the entire world into the jaws of your understanding. Kircher seems to have been a bit of easy mark for fabulists and tellers of tall tales, and earned guffaws and ridicule from many of his contemporaries in the world of natural philosophy for his credulous publication of all kinds of nonsense as veritable.
There's a sort of Huge If True level of gullibility Kircher exhibited. But is this the curse of the polymath? If you're following your curiosity to its horizon, you'll probably swallow a few whoppers in the process. To paraphrase Francis Wheen, if you open your mind too much your brain might fall out.
Incidentally, I had intended to read this book for some time, and finally decided on reading it next while I was reading Italo Calvino's If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. Then blam in the middle of that novel there's an extended to Kircher and one of the infernal machines he invented. Calvino's reference to Kircher is then discussed in the introductory essay in this book. It's a conspiracy, I'm sure of it. The world wants me to Kircherize, endlessly, and so I shall.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews