Talk:Athanasius Kircher

message: From the 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica
KIRCHER, ATHANASIUS (1601-1680), German scholar and mathematician, was born on the 2nd of May 1601, at Geisa near Fulda. He was educated at the Jesuit college of Fulda, and entered upon his noviciate in that order at Mainz in 1618. He became professor of philosophy, mathematics, and Oriental languages at Wurzburg, whence he was driven (1631) by the troubles of the Thirty Years War to Avignon. Through the influence of Cardinal Barberini he next (I635) settled in Rome, where for eight years he taught mathematics in the Collegio Romano, but ultimately resigned this appointment to study hieroglyphics and other archaeological subjects. He died on the 28th of November 1680.
Kircher was a man of wide and varied learning, but singularly devoid of judgment and critical discernment.
::This sentence FROM THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA 1911 EDITION is clearly what Wikidouches would call "non-encyclopedic".  WD's take note.
Seems much more thorough and list all his major works and dates.
----
There seems to be some doubt as to whether he's Kircher or Kirchner, and whether he was born in 1601 or 1602; in both cases I've gone with the Catholic Encyclopedia, since it's the word of God. Markalexander100 09:35, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Brittanica

message: In 1940 P.P.Weiner wrote that a weather-forecaster invented by Athanasius Kirchner, "interested Leibniz in connection with his own attempts to invent a universal language" (1940). 
Does anyone have any familiarity with A) Kircher's weather-forecater, and B) it's connection ot Leibniz's universal language? Sholto Maud 06:15, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Athanasius Kircher's weather forcaster & Leibniz's characteristica universalis

message: 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica  and Catholic Encyclopedia  say 28th November, the "Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon"  and my 1905 Brockhaus Enzyklopädie say 27 November. Is there a reliable source that tells us the date exactly, or explains the discrepancy? Kusma (討論) 09:04, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Date of death 

message: Didn't he perform an early bell&vacuum experiemnt, before Robert Boyle? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 129.2.42.105 (talk) 15:39, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  properties of sound 

message: I find it difficult to see how having any link to the Kircher Society can be justified in this article except perhaps as a note with respect to popular culture appearance. There is very very little about Athanasius Kircher at the Kircher Society site and it is either far from authoritative or is secondary material from some of the other sources cited in this article anyway. The manner by which Kircher Society is linked (three times) in this article gives an undue imprimatur from wikipedia that their site will add actual factual benefit to readers. This is clearly not the case to anyone who has researched Athanasius Kircher at all and seen the Kircher Society site. I suggest both links be removed. {nb. wikipedia quotes the Society as saying they were charged with continuing the mission of Athanasius Kircher (or the somesuch) - this is just advertising / self promotion. That statement has no value whatsoever to this article and in fact leads one to question to the quality of the rest of the article. Peacay 12:33, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree, and cleaned up the references, leaving just a single line under influences dm 12:46, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Kircher Society 

message: ...someone nominate this thing to be delisted. It's BLATANTLY obviously NOT a "Featured Articel"; it's riddled with citation signals! 68.39.174.238 19:36, 6 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  I recommend... 

message: The pronunciation for Kircher's name should be removed, or else it should be qualified with a comment.  Kircher's name is not pronounced consistently among English-speaking scholars, and the most common pronunciations for the "ch" in his last name are as an "sh" or as a "k", thus making variants like "Keer-sher" "Keer-ker" or "Kir-ker" (with a short "i").  Arguably, these two options are more correct from a historical standpoint, since Kircher was from Fulda and would have pronounced the "ch" as an "sh" -- NOT as a hochdeutsch "soft ch" (as in the pronunciation recorded here).  Kircher also spent most of his life in Rome, where the "ch" was pronounced as a "k," as it still is by modern Italian scholars (and many English-speaking scholars).  Moreover, seventeenth-century sources refer to him by his Latin name at times, misspelling it in ways making clear that the "ch" was confused with a "k" (in spelling, so therefore likely in pronunciation too).
As far as I know, Kircher never spent significant time in the part of (modern) Germany that would have pronounced his name the way it is recorded here.  Nor is it the way that English speakers generally pronounce his name.  So... it's not correct historically, and it's not correct for English speakers today.  A Google search for "Kircher pronounce" also gives a couple hits that give suggested pronunciations in English, none of which agrees with the one on this page.
It should be removed, alternatives should be added, or at least it should be noted that is anachronistic hochdeutsch imposed on a historical figure (since many German scholars would pronounce his name as it is given here).  24.147.122.22 (talk) 03:17, 19 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pronunciation of his name?? 

message: A part of the journal of Athanasius Kircher was published for subscribers of MAKE magazine as a gift. It's a fascinating read. Maybe it should be included here.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.121.65.80 (talk) 17:12, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  The journal 

message: not to be a bother, but I've read Mundus Sub. recently... I will go back to the library later this week and recheck the relevant passages, but I seem to recall reading that Kircher (while featuring a picture of a giant in his book) actually refuted the notion that they could actually exist, because their stature would make them collapse...am I just imaging that?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.134.168.190 (talk) 22:44, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Consider the Square-cube law and its application to the possible sizes of animals.--DThomsen8 (talk) 02:48, 25 January 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Giants 

message: The article as currently written says that Kircher had a copy of the Voynich Manuscript. I was under the impression that he had the manuscript itself. Which is correct? JoshuaZ (talk) 21:13, 24 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Copy of the Voynich manuscript? 

message: Substituted at 08:31, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Assessment comment

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