Athanasius Kircher

Kircher, Phonurgia nova, 1673. View online.

Athanasius Kircher (1601/02 – 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar.

Works

• Ars Magnesia, 1631.
• Lingua aegyptiaca restituta, 1644.
• Ars magna lucis et vmbrae in decem libros digesta, 1646.
• Musurgia vniuersalis, 1650.
• Obeliscvs pamphilivs, 1650. [1]
• Oedipus Aegyptiacus, 3 vols., 1652-54. Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3.
• Scrutinium physico-medicum contagiosae luis, 1658.
• Iter extaticum coeleste, quo mundi opificium, 1660.
• Diatribe de prodigiosis crucibus, 1661.
• Polygraphia, 1663.
• Mundus subterraneus, 1665.
• Obelisci Aegyptiaci, 1666.
• Phonurgia nova, sive conjugium mechanico-physicum artis & natvrae paranympha phonosophia concinnatum, Kempten: Rudolph Dreherr, 1673. (in Latin). Early book on sound, acoustics and music; describes acoustic apparatuses and phenomena such as the tuba stentorophonica [the loud trumpet], the statua citofonica [the talking statue], or the Aeolian harp. Scans online: [2], [3]. Commentaries: [4], [5].
• Sphinx Mystagoga, 1676.

Literature

• Daniel Stolzenberg, Egyptian Oedipus: Athanasius Kircher and the Secrets of Antiquity, University of Chicago Press, 2013, 320 pp.
• Daniel Stolzenberg, "Athanasius Kircher and the Hieroglyphic Sphinx", Public Domain Review, Sep 2014.