A Study of the Life and Works of Athanasius Kircher, Germanus Incredibilis: With a Selection of His Unpublished Correspondence and an Annotated Translation of His Autobiography: 12 (Aries Book) - Hardcover

John Edward Fletcher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9004207120 ISBN 13: 9789004207127

Publisher: BRILL, 2011

Synopsis

Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit in 17th-century Rome, was an extraordinary polymath. His fascinating correspondence with popes, princes and priests was a key to the mind-set of the period, and the transition from medieval to modern scientific thinking.

About this title

Review:

"This is the long awaited masterwork on the great polymathic German Jesuit of the seventeenth century, Athanasius Kircher. Scholars have continually acclaimed the work in its thesis form, but now it has at last become widely accessible through publication by Brill. It considers the life, work and correspondence of Kircher, and adds a translation of his autobiography with extensive commentary. The bulk of the work critically evaluates Kircher's extraordinary contributions in many fields - cosmology, geology, linguistics, medicine, mechanics, music, history, art - and covers his relationships with great continental scholars (Peiresc, Huygens, Boyle, etc.) and with patrons of scientific endeavour (especially Christina of Sweden), together with his part in the Jesuits' "Republic of Letters" across the globe, and his influences on subsequent 'greats' (Leibniz, Goethe, etc.). An immense work of patient, careful and astute scholarship."
Gary Trompf, University of Sydney

"Fletcher's approach to Kircher gives far greater significance to his German upbringing and formation than many recent studies in English, Italian, and French that have focused on his mature years in Rome. [...] The result is an intellectual treasure trove: dive into any chapter and you will discover a finegrained analysis of yet another facet of Kircher's world."
Paula Findlen, Stanford University, in: Renaissance Quarterly Vol.65, No.4

"His book provides a fantastic jumping-off point for understanding the social and political dimensions of baroque science, as well as book exchange in the Republic of Letters."
Suzanne Sutherland Duchacek, Stanford University, Ambix, Vol. 61, No.1

"In the biographical sketch and, above all, the descriptions of the correspondence, anyone researching Kircher will find much useful information - a considerable amount still unavailable elsewhere... Fletcher's study will be an essential reference for investigators of Kircher's correspondence."
Daniel Stolzenberg, University of California, Davis, The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol 45, No.4

About the Author:

John E. Fletcher, M.A. (1966), Queen Mary College, University of London. Senior Lecturer in Germanic Studies, University of Sydney. Before his early death in 1992 he had published extensively on Athanasius Kircher and his correspondents.

About this edition

• Publisher: BRILL
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 9004207120
• ISBN 13: 9789004207127
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 656