Athanasius Kircher: The Last Man Who Knew Everything

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Paula Findlen
Taylor & Francis, May 15, 2004 - History - 480 pages
The German Jesuit Athanasius Kircher did not die until 27 November 1680, at the ripeold age of seventy-eight or seventy-nine.2 His body was buried in Il Gesł and his heart inthe Marian shrine of Mentorella, south of Rome. Despite Baldigiani's mournfuldescription of Kircher, reports of his demise were somewhat exaggerated. Kircher wasstill writing his own letters to correspondents as late as November 1678, when heapologized to one colleague for any sloppiness inadvertently caused by his "tremblinghand."3 A trickle of letters continued, though increasingly composed by assistants, untilthe winter.

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About the author (2004)

Paula Findlen is Ubaldo Pierotti Professor of Italian History and Director of the Science, Technology and Society Program at Stanford University. She is the author of Possessing Nature and coeditor of Merchants and Marvels: Commerce, Science and Art in Early Modern Europe, published by Routledge.

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