Athanasius kircher project gutenberg selfpublishing. The museum is mentioned in the novel the museum of innocence, by turkish nobellaureate orhan pamuk. Lawrence weschler, the head of the institute and the author of mr. Joscelyn godwins athanasius kircher3 s theatre of the world is the most recent homage to kircher, and not the first by this author.
His tertianship completed, kircher was sent to wurzburg, where he taught mathematics, completed and published his first book on magnetic phenomena, and. Athanasius kirchers theatre of the world by joscelyn godwin. Kircher, athanasius 1602 1680, german jesuit polymath and collector. Pigorini national museum of prehistory and ethnography. Museum of jurassic technology gift shop recommended books.
A documentary about seventeenthcentury athanasius kircher 16011680, a visionary who studied nearly everything, and interconnected everything to boot. Around the same time, the iconoclastic david wilson installed kircher as the muse of his own latterday cabinet of curiosities, the museum of jurassic technology in culver city, california. A divination table from the exhibit, the world is bound with secret knots the life and works of athanasius kircher, 1602 1680. The museum image above is from stanford universitys highly recommended athanasius kircher project. On athanasius kircher, the nation, april 3, 20, accessed. Kircher research project in german international bibliography of athanasius kircher research. World heritage encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the. Apart from his interest in ancient civilizations and biblical. Kircher pdf files, in german the museum of jurassic technology in culver city, california includes models of kircher s inventions. Contains illustrations from kirchers books with short but wellwritten articles.
The collections of the museum, which was founded in 1989 and is being curated by david hildebrand wilson and diana wilson, span over three little buildings and consist of pieces from about a dozen subcollections which are often centered around a certain subject such as belief and knowledge or personalities like athanasius kircher and their. The history of kircher and his collection also inspired david wilson to install a permanent exhibition in the museum of jurassic technology culver city, ca, and most recently have led to the creation of a wunderkammer in liceo visconti, a high school in. Athanasius kircher 160280, having been neglected for centuries, has become something of a. The museum was the subject of a 1995 book by lawrence weschler entitled mr.
The following year, i moved to stanford and discovered the pleasure of having a wonderful colleague in east asian languages and literature, haun saussy, who shared. A musicologist at colgate university, in hamilton, new york, godwin has already devoted several books and articles to the german priest. The museum of jurassic technology describes kircher s turris babel. An extensive subcategorized link directory about a. In 1678, the german polymath jesuit athanasius kircher 160280, author of numerous bulging baroque encyclopedias on egypt, china. Ideas in society, 15001700 athanasius kircher, sj david harley. Wilsons cabinet of wonders a book about the museum of jurassic technology, thinks it is because kircher. Page page page page page page page page page hen the german jesuit athanasius kircher arrived in rome in, his definitive work the egyptian oedipus oedipus aegyptiacus, comparing himself to the. The world is bound with secret knots the museum of jurassic. Hell, even if you had been there and felt, like i did, that youd found your new favorite thing in the universe it still might get a little confusing. In conjunction with a groundbreaking exhibit and international conference, the stanford university libraries are proud to announce the publication of the great art of knowing. The strange life of athanasius kircher by marilee peters with illustrations by roxanna bikadoroff is a weird ride through the life of a curious character.
With his enormous range of scholarly pursuits, the 17thcentury polymath athanasius kircher 2 may, 1602 28 november, 1680 has been hailed as the last renaissance man and the master of. The germanborn jesuit scholar athanasius kircher c. Roth in technology and culture, january 2002 the world, as it might be. A postmodernist of the 1600s is back in fashion the new. Athanasius kircher was a devout jesuit priest working in rome and his book bears the imprimatur of the jesuit order, so inevitably a compromise or fudge was necessary. The celebrated museum of the roman college of the society. Athanasius kircher the last man who knew everything pdf athanasius kircher german jesuit, occultist, polymath was one of most curious figures in. Las museum of jurassic technology will make you question. In a man of misconceptions, his 2012 book about kircher, john glassie writes that while. Pronged ants, horned humans, mice on toast, and other marvels of jurassic technology, which describes in detail many of its exhibits. Kircher pdf files, in german the museum of jurassic technology in culver city, california includes models of kircher. Museum of jurassic technology, culver city, california.
The celebrated museum of the roman college of the society of. These are just three of the thirtynine books kircher wrote. And at some point, as you move through the darkened rooms of the museum of jurassic technology, you might wonder if youve gone insane theres pope john paul ii carved out of flecks of dust and a single human hair and perched in the eye of a needle. Iconography and probabilism in the mundus subterraneus of athanasius kircher by mark waddell in centaurus, january 2006 magic and artifice in the collection of athanasius kircher by mark waddell in endeavour, march 2010. Knots at the museum of jurassic technology is based on the life and work of kircher. World is bound with secret knotsthe life and works of athanasius kircher, 16021680. Athanasius kircher 2 may 1602 28 november 1680 was a german jesuit scholar and. A virtual exhibition from the excellent museum of jurassic technology.
Athanasius kircher biography history, school, book, old. The last man who knew everything paula findlen ive read a lot about this man and was surprised to find a book about him in my local bookshop. The museum of jurassic technology we make money not art. It calls itself an educational institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and the public appreciation of the lower jurassic, the relevance of the term lower jurassic to the museum s collections being. Musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni in x.
Athanasius kircher wikimili, the best wikipedia reader. A contemporary of newton and descartes, kircher was also the creator of one of europes earliest and most famous museums at the collegio romano in rome. The museum image above is from stanford universitys highly recommended athanasius kircher. For the festival, anton haakman held a lecture about athanasius kircher, including the screening of the tv documentary the subterranean world of athanasius kircher from vhs tape. Considered by many to be the greatest polymath in an encyclopedia age, athanasius kircher was a scholar who aspired to expertise in many different domains of knowledge and sought connections among them in a quest to recover ancient pansophia universal wisdom. Dear phantasmaphile pal, adela leibowitz, curated the unseen, an incredible, occultthemed group show, opening at the torrance art museum in ca on sept 17th. Athanasius kircher, the last renaissance man per edward w. The kircher society recently has its first annual meeting in new york. Enter the dark and completely unique world of the museum of jurassic technology. The last of his books to be published during his lifetime, turris babel was kircher s attempt to reconstruct the specifics surrounding the famous biblical story, recounted in genesis 1011, of nimrods attempt to build a tower that reached the heavens. Athanasius kircher, musurgia universalis, 1650 special collections featured item for november 2004 by tim eggington, former rare books librarian kircher, athanasius, 16021680.
Copies of kircher s books can be found in many major research libraries. Kircher, athanasius german draftsman, engraver, and scolar. Commemorating the 400th anniversary of the renowned jesuits birth, the exhibit featured over 50 rare 17th and 18th century editions acquired by stanford in 1998 from the collection of ella and bernard mazel. Reading the museum of jurassic technology academia. Kircher discusses a model of the universe which he describes as copernican, but which is very odd. Kircher had a museum filled with oddities and inventions. The museum of jurassic technology, in a way, provided me with a very renaissanceera moment, in that the unknown, to me, seemed unreal. Despite the fact that most of his pseudoscientific ideas have been debunked, the novelty of athanasius kircher s genius lives on. The unseen curated by adela leibowitz sept 17 oct 29 opening reception saturday, sept 17. With his enormous range of scholarly pursuits, the 17thcentury polymath athanasius kircher 2 may, 1602 28 november, 1680 has been hailed as the last renaissance man and the master of a hundred arts. Archived from the original pdf on october 18, 2011. Athanasius kircher was a german jesuit who taught, wrote and ran a museum at the roman college in the mid1600s. Athanasius kircher the museum of jurassic technology. The stanford university libraries presented the exhibit, the great art of knowing.