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Athanasius Kircher
(~1601 - 1680)
Athanasius Kircher was one of the most learned men of his day. He
developed an instrument for measuring the magnetic force of the earth,
a device for measuring wind speeds, and he designed and built sundials.
He studied earthquakes and volcanos. He was an expert on oriental
languages, and translated the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, an Arabic
alchemical work, into Latin. He also wrote some very popular books on
Egyptian antiquities and hieroglyphs. He was the first to correctly
conjecture that Coptic was derived from ancient Egyptian. He even received
a large gift from the Pope for translating the hieroglyphs on an Egyptian
obelisk! When the Rosetta stone was found, quite a bit later, this
translation was found to be completely inaccurate. However, during his
lifetime he had a reputation for being able to read any text.
Further reading at: Athanasius Kircher
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