- Wenceslas Pantaleon Kirwitzer
Wenceslas Pantaleon Kirwitzer (1588,
Kadaň - 1626,Macau ) was anastronomer and aJesuit missionary .Life
Kirwitzer was born in Kadaň (Germ. "Kaaden") in what is currently the Czech Republic to a
protestant family descended from the village of Krbice (Germ. "Kürbitz") so his surname was derived from "Kürbitzer". He converted to "Catholicism" as a youth and started studying Jesuit Academy inOlomouc (after "Charles University" in Prague the second oldest university in the Czech lands established by BishopVilém Prusinovský z Víckova ). He attracted attention of his professors for his talent especially for natural science. In 1606 he became a novice at Jesuits inBrno . After a short time he was called up to Rome to be embodied in theCollegium Romanum . He was a member of this College in the time whenGalileo Galilei was in Rome (1611) to state his case in the question ofHeliocentric andPtolemaic system s. The Roman College was then open to theCopernican opinion held by Galileo. After a short career as a Professor of Mathematics inGratz Kirwitzer leaves with other 17 brothers for China as a missionary. Their ship "San Carlos" arrived inGoa , India, in 1618. After several years in Goa he moved toMacau where he died on May 22, 1626. He didn't stop being interested in astronomy, he kept in touch withJohann Adam Schall von Bell , a German Jesuit that was preparing the reform of the Chinese calendar and later became president of the Astronomical Office inBeijing . His observations of comets were published in "Observationes cometarum anni 1618 factæ in India Orientali a quibusdam S. J. mathematicis in Sinense regnum navigantibus" inAschaffenburg in 1620.Heliocentric opinion
The exact opinions of Wenceslas Pantaleon Kirwitzer on the topic of heliocentric system are dubious. He never wrote about it in China. He was considered Copernican by his contemporaries, though. For further reading on this topic: [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~nsivin/cop.html Copernicus in China]
Kirwitzer Day
In honour of W.P. Kirwitzer there are annual Kirwitzer Days organized in
Kadan , the astronomer's birthplace. The event is dedicated to the dialogue between natural sciences and theological and philosophical systems.
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