Born in 1601, the "last Renaissance man", Anthanasius Kircher, was a 17th century German Jesuit scholar notable for his studies in the fields of Oriental studies, geology, and medicine. Kircher is considered a premodern root of postmodern thinking. He passed away in 1680.

www.stanford.edu/group/kircher/cgi-bin/site

Anthanasius Kircher is featured in Edition: Lunacy