Athanasius Kircher

Name: Athanasius Kircher

Born: May 2, 1601, or 1602 in Geisa, Imperial Abbey of Fulda, Holy Roman Empire

Death: November 27/28, 1680 (Age: 78/79)

Computer-related contributions

• 17th-century German Jesuit scholar.
• Published approximately 40 works most in the fields of geology, oriental studies and medicine.
• Compared to Leonardo da Vinci for his enormous range of interests.
• Interest in technology and mechanical inventions, including a magnetic clock, various automatons and the first megaphone.
• Establish the link between the ancient Egyptian and the modern Coptic languages.
• Some regard him as the founder of Egyptology.
• One of the first people to observe microbes through a microscope.
• Before his time in proposing that the plague was caused by an infectious microorganism.

Significant publications

• Physiologia Kircheriana experimentalis (1680).
• Sphinx mystagoga: sive Diatribe hieroglyphica, qua Mumiae, ex Memphiticis Pyramidum Adytis Erutae (1676).
• Ars magna sciendi sive combinatorica (1669).
• Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652).

Honors and awards

• Honored with the title "master of a hundred arts."

Quotes

"Nothing is more beautiful than to know all."