Athanasius Kircher

A scholar of medicine, history, physics, astronomy, mathematics, comparative musicology and linguistics. In later life, Kircher's interests led him to consider the nature of the geology. Notable among his 40 major written works is his 'Mundus Subterraneus' (1664) which resulted from his investigations. The work contains a map of the legendary island of Atlantis, and striking diagrams of natural subterranean geological systems, Including water and volcanos. At the Collegio Romano he amassed a vast cabinet of curiosities, later called the ‘Musuem Kircherianum’, and one of the first public museums.