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KIRCHER, ATHANASIUS (r6oi-168o)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 827 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KIRCHER, See also:ATHANASIUS (r6oi-168o) , See also:German See also:scholar and mathematician, was See also:born on the 2nd of May 16oi, at Geisa near See also:Fulda. He was educated at the Jesuit See also:college of Fulda, and entered upon his noviciate in that See also:order at See also:Mainz in 1618. He became See also:professor of See also:philosophy, See also:mathematics, and See also:Oriental See also:languages at See also:Wurzburg, whence he was driven (1631) by the troubles of the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War to See also:Avignon. Through the See also:influence of See also:Cardinal See also:Barberini he next (1635) settled in See also:Rome, where for eight years he taught mathematics in the Collegio Romano, but ultimately resigned this See also:appointment to study See also:hieroglyphics and other archaeological subjects. He died on the 28th of See also:November 1680. Kircher was a See also:man of wide and varied learning, but singularly devoid of See also:judgment and See also:critical discernment. His voluminous writings in See also:philology, natural See also:history, physics and mathematics often accordingly have a See also:good See also:deal of the See also:historical See also:interest which attaches to pioneering See also:work, however imperfectly performed; other-See also:wise they now take See also:rank as curiosities of literature merely. They include Ars See also:Magnesia (1631); See also:Magnes, sive de arte magnetica See also:opus tripartitum (1641) ; and Magneticum naturae regnum (1667) ; Prodromus Corpus (1636); Lingua Aegyptiaca restituta (1643); Obeliscus Pamphilius (165o) ; and See also:Oedipus Aegyptiacus, hoc est universalis doctrinae hieroglyphicae instauratio (1652–1655)—See also:works which may claim the merit of having first called See also:attention to See also:Egyptian hieroglyphics; Ars magna lucis et umbrae in mundo (1645–1646); Musurgia universalis, sive ars magna consoni et dissoni (165o) ; Polygraphia, seu artificium linguarum quo cum See also:omnibus mundi populis poterit quis respondere (1663); Mundus subterraneus, quo subterrestris mundi opificium, universae denique naturae divitiae, abditorum effectuum causae demonstrantur (1665–1678); See also:China illustrata (1667); Ars magna sciendi (1669) ; and See also:Latium (1669), a work which may still be consulted with See also:advantage. The Specula Melitensis Encyclica (1638) gives an ac-See also:count of akindof calculating See also:machine of his invention. The valuable collection of antiquities which he bequeathed to the Collegio Romano has been described by Buonanni (Musaeum Kircherianum, 1709; republished by Battara in 1773). KIRCHHEIM-UNTER-See also:TECK, a See also:town of See also:Germany, in the See also:kingdom of See also:Wurttemberg, is prettily situated on the Lauter, at the See also:north-See also:west See also:foot of the Rauhe See also:Alb, 15 M. S.E. of See also:Stuttgart by See also:rail.

Pop. (1905), 883o. The town has a royal See also:

castle built in 1538, two See also:schools and several benevolent institutions. The manufactures include See also:cotton goods, See also:damask, pianofortes, machinery, See also:furniture, chemicals and See also:cement. The town also has See also:wool-See also:spinning establishments and breweries, and a See also:corn See also:exchange. It is the most important wool See also:market in See also:South Germany, and has also a See also:trade in See also:fruit, See also:timber and pigs. In the vicinity are the ruins of the castle of Teck, the hereditary stronghold of the See also:dukes of that name. Kirchheim has belonged to Wurttemberg since 1381.

End of Article: KIRCHER, ATHANASIUS (r6oi-168o)

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