萝莉社

Athanasius Kircher, S.J. (1602 - 1680) Athanasius Kircher was a prominent German Jesuit scholar, polymath, and occultist who spent much of his career in Rome during the transitional period between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. A remarkably prolific author, Kircher published over forty works鈥攎any of them richly illustrated鈥攐n an astonishingly wide array of subjects, including the visual and performing arts, linguistics, physics, biology, and the earth sciences. A timeline of his life events and major publications is provided below. Kircher maintained a sustained interest in terrestrial phenomena throughout his life, and his diverse conceptual models for interpreting Earth processes continue to attract the attention of historians of science, particularly those focused on the early development of the geosciences. The majority of Kircher's works were originally published in Latin, with a handful also appearing in Dutch. This research project and accompanying website aim to make Kircher鈥檚 pioneering contributions to the geosciences accessible to a wider, English-speaking audience. By translating and contextualizing his writings, we hope to illuminate the historical significance of his ideas and foster a deeper understanding of his role in the early development of earth sciences. -Will Parcell   Autobiography (1682): THE LIFE of the Most Reverend Father Athanasius Kircher of the Society of Jesus, a man celebrated throughout the entire world. full transcription and translation available

WORKS INCLUDING GEOLOGIC THEMES:

Ars Magnesia (1631)

• describes how an eruption of Vesuvius caused magnetic needles to shift direction and marvels at the phenomenon where a red-hot piece of iron is drawn to a magnet.

Magnes sive de arte magnetica opus tripartitum (1641, 1643, and 1654)

• discusses meteorological and terrestrial processes

Itinerarium Exstaticum (1656)

• early discussion of the Cosmos, explained through a dreamplay.

• full transcription and translation available

Iter Exstaticum Secundum (1657)

• early discussion of Earth's inner processes, explained through a dreamplay. Precursor to Mundus.

• full transcription and translation available

Mundus Subterraneus (1664-1678)

• encyclopedic work on natural phenomena related to the Earth as the Geocosm
• partial transcription and translation available

Historia Eustachio Mariana (1665)

• a work intended to help raise funds for the restoration of a a ruined Marian shrine near Guadagnolo, Italy (Santuario Madre delle Grazie della Mentorella). Within the work, Kircher examines the forms and features of regional land surfaces (chorography) through description, illustrations, and maps.
• translation available

China Monumentis, qua sacris qua profanis (1667)

• also abbreviated in English by John Ogilby in Nieuhof, J., 1673, An embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emporer of China deliver'd by their excellencies, Peter de Goyer and Jacob de Keyzer, at his imperial city of Peking

The Vulcano鈥檚: or, Burning and Fire--vomiting Mountains, Famous in the World (1669)

• contemporaneous partial translation of the Preface from Mundus as well as paraphrased excerpts of Books 1 and 2. Published by Benjamin Billingsly at the Printing-Press in Broad-street near Gresham College, 1669

• transcription available

Timeline of Kircher's life events and publications