vbid/9783319003009

Description

In this fascinating book, the author traces the careers, ideas, discoveries, and inventions of two renowned scientists, Athanasius Kircher and Galileo Galilei, one a Jesuit, the other a sincere man of faith whose relations with the Jesuits deteriorated badly. The Author documents Kircher�s often intuitive work in many areas, including translating the hieroglyphs, developing sundials, and inventing the magic lantern, and explains how Kircher was a forerunner of Darwin in suggesting that animal species evolve. Galileo�s work on scales, telescopes, and sun spots is mapped and discussed, and care is taken to place his discoveries within their cultural environment. While Galileo is without doubt the �winner� in the comparison with Kircher, the latter achieved extraordinary insights by unconventional means. For all Galileo�s fine work, the author believes that scientists do need to regain the power of dreaming, vindicating Kirchner�s view.Typham this is the title: The Stars of Galileo Galilei and the Universal Knowledge of Athanasius Kircher