By John M. Scott, S.J. he next time you look up at the moon maps, taught and wrote books on is written: “Neither do men inhabit the moon, remember that you are look- astronomy, physics and mathematics, moon nor do souls migrate there.” It is Ting at the “home” of 34 Jesuits. Their and many of these books are still extant. the best known of all selenographs, hav- names have been given to craters on the During the first two centuries of Jesuit ing been used by most scholars of lunar moon. history there were 631 Jesuit authors of nomenclature for three centuries. When our astronauts were in orbit geometry books alone! During these centuries astronomers around the moon, they used Jesuit took turns naming and renaming craters, names in describing the rough terrain Moon Maps a process that resulted in conflicting beneath them. At the entrance to the Smithsonian’s lunar maps. Who were these men, and what did moon exhibit is a large copy of one of In 1922 the International they do to merit this honor? the earliest (1651) selenographs or Astronomical Union (IAU) was formed. Thanks to Fr. Joseph MacDonnell, S.J., moon maps. This map is taken from It codified all lunar objects, and 34 of the of Fairfield University, I can share the Almagestum Novum, a book authored by 39 Jesuit names survived to be listed in following information with you. Jesuit astronomers Jean-Baptiste Riccioli the National Air and Space Museum All the Jesuits, whose names are on and Francesco Grimaldi. Across the top (NASM) catalog, which identifies about 1,600 points on the moon’s surface. 12 Creighton University WINDOW Additional Jesuit names are still being March 11, 1956. De Mille said, “We who added to the list by the IAU. have been in the motion picture industry It would be a mistake to think the for 40 to 50 years sometimes think of Jesuit names are on selenographs only ourselves as pioneers - but the real pio- because other Jesuits put them there. neer of motion pictures was a Jesuit, Their inclusion was, rather, the result of Athanasius Kircher, who invented the a convergence of astronomers’ opinions magic lantern in the middle of the 17th over three centuries. Selenographers century. before and after Riccioli confirmed the “It is interesting,” De Mille continued, decisions again and again that these “to note that the same Fr. Kircher was Jesuits deserved the honor. the first European scholar to call atten- This is not surprising. tion to the importance of Egyptian hiero- Recent histories emphasize the enor- glyphics.” mous influence Jesuits had not only on Kircher’s interest in interpreting mathematics but on the other developing obelisks led him to such a thorough sciences such as astronomy. Historians of Kircher study of the subject that princes, popes science always listed a surprisingly large and cardinals appointed him to decipher number of Jesuits among the greatest sci- various obelisks. It was not until the dis- entists and mathematicians of all time. covery of the Rosetta stone in 1799 that Jesuits, at the cutting edge of the sci- princes and scholars, the students of anyone else had any success. In fact it ences, by 1773 operated 30 of the world’s Clavius and Grienberger expounded was because of Kircher’s work that sci- 130 observatories. Galileo’s discoveries, to the delight of entists knew what to look for when Galileo. The Jesuits said that if Galileo interpreting the Rosetta stone. Kircher Our Men on the Moon had heeded their advice and proposed has been called the real founder of his teachings as hypotheses, he could It is fascinating to consider briefly Egyptology. have written on any subject he wished, Because of his widespread interest some of the Jesuits whose names are on including the rotation of the earth. moon maps. and genius Kircher has been compared (Instead, Galileo alienated the church by to Leonardo da Vinci. His first publica- First and foremost is Christopher proposing his ideas as truth.) Clavius, for whom one of the moon’s tion concerned magnetism; he empha- Francesco Grimaldi, also a Jesuit, dis- sized the parallel between the forces of largest craters is named. When Galileo, covered diffraction and anticipated the with the help of his “cannocchiale” or gravity and magnetism. Then he wrote invention of the diffraction grating. He of sundials and in 1656 on the bubonic “telescopio,” discovered the phases of was one of the earliest physicists to sug- Venus, the “three-bodied” appearance of plague. In the latter he attributes the gest that light was wave-like in nature. plague to tiny animals which he had Saturn, and the mountains of the moon, He formulated a geometrical basis for a Clavius verified these phenomena and observed under a microscope. This is wave theory of light. His treatise attract- one of the earliest hints of what we praised Galileo for his discoveries. ed Isaac Newton to the study of optics. Galileo was delighted and expressed his today call “germ theory.” Grimaldi was also the first to publish In his book, Arce Noe (Amsterdam joy with Clavius’ compliments, “as much verification of Galileo’s discovery for appreciated as it was desired and little 1675), Kircher makes it clear that he free-fall depending on the square of the understands the evolutionary process; expected,” bringing him “such testimony time, and first to consider the effect on to the truth” of his observations. In fact later biologists have been impressed by free-fall resulting from air resistance. this remarkably progressive viewpoint. Galileo was sick in bed when he received Another Jesuit, Christopher Scheiner, Clavius’ letter and claimed that the letter Present at the violent eruption discovered sunspots independently of of Mount Etna in 1630, Kircher had brought him so much joy, it occasioned Galileo, but erroneously thought they his immediate recovery. Galileo knew himself lowered into the cone for closer were small planets. But he correctly observation. It was good preparation the impact that Clavius’ opinions had on explained the elliptical form of the the learned world, and wrote: “All the for his two-volume work, Mundus sun near the horizon as the effect of subterraneus, (Amsterdam, 1665), experts, especially the Jesuit fathers, refraction. agree with me, as everybody will soon probably the first printed work on know.” geophysics and vulcanology. In it he Christopher Grienberger, Clavius’ Magic Lantern and held that many of the phenomena successor, verified Galileo’s discovery of Egyptian Hieroglyphics on earth including the formation of the four moons of Jupiter, then later in The late Cecil B. De Mille was the minerals were due to the fact that there 1611 organized a convocation honoring main speaker at a Communion breakfast was fire under the terra firma, an Galileo. At this gathering of cardinals, held at Loyola University, Los Angeles, unusual teaching for those days. Fall Issue 1995 13 1. Mario Bettini, Italian, 1582 -1657, math/astr 18. Christian Mayer, German, 1719-1783, astr/math 2. Jacques de Billy, French, 1602-1679, math/phys 19. Paul McNally, American, 1890-1955, astr 3. Giuseppe Biancani, Italian, 1566-1624, math/astr 20. Theodore Moretus, Belgian, 1601-1667, math 4. Roger J. Boscovich, Croatian, 1711-1787, math/phys 21. Denis Petau, French, 1583-1652, hist/astr 5. Nicolas Cabei, Italian, 1586-1650, phys/astr 22. Jean-Bap. Riccioli, Italian, 1598-1671, selenography 6. Christopher Clavius, German, 1538-1612, math/phys 23. Matteo Ricci, Italian, 1552-1610, math/geog 7. Jean-Baptiste Cysat, Swiss, 1588-1657, math/phys 24. Rodes, Hungarian, 1881-1939, astr 8. Francois de Vico, French, 1805-1848, astr 25. Romana, Spanish, astr 9. Gyula Fenyi, Hungarian, 1845-1927, astr 26. Christophe Scheiner, German, 1575-1650, math/phys 10. George Fournier, French, 1595-1652, math 27. George Schoenberger, German, 1597-1645, math/astr 11. Francesco Grimaldi, Italian, 1613-1663, phys 28. Ange Secchi, Italian, 1818-1878, astrophys 12. Chris. Grienberger, Swiss, 1564-1636, astr 29. Hughues Semple, Scottish, 1596-1654, math 13. Johann Hagen, Austrian, 1847-1930, astr 30. Gerolamo Sirsalis, Italian, 1584-1654, selenography 14. Maximilian Hell, Hungarian, 1720-1792, phys/astr 31. Andre Tacquet, Belgian, 1612-1660, math 15. Athanasius Kircher, German, 1602-1680, science 32. Adam Tannerus, Austrian, 1572-1632, math/theol 16. Francis X. Kugler, German, 1862-1929, hist/math 33. Nicolas Zucchi, Italian, 1586-1670, math/astr 17. Charles Malapert, French, 1580-1630, math/phil 34. Jean-Baptiste Zupi, Italian, 1590-1650, astr 14 Creighton University WINDOW For three centuries a science museum was a recluse not accustomed to seeing founded by Kircher (perhaps one of the even his own people. For a time suspi- first of its kind in the world) survived in cious landlords would drive Ricci and Rome. Recently the scientific items of his companions from their dwellings, this museum were divided up and until they hit on the plan of renting spread throughout three Roman muse- houses that locals considered to be ums. haunted. Then no one bothered them. In his book, Jesuite Geometers, Fr. Unexpectedly the emperor sum- MacDonnell gives us this interesting moned Ricci and his companions to account: “As a youngster Kircher had inquire about a ringing clock brought to three near-death experiences. While him by the Jesuits. His own scientists swimming in a forbidden pond he was had failed to fix it when it stopped. Since swept under a mill wheel; later inadver- the emperor could not receive these for- tently he was pushed from an onlooking eigners in person, he had an artist draw crowd into the path of race horses, and full length portraits of them, so that they finally he suffered a gangrenous leg from Ricci could have a vicarious interview with a skating accident.