Athanasius Kircher

Athanasius Kircher, S.J. (sometimes erroneously spelled Kirchner; 1602–1680) was a 17th-century German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jesuit Roger Boscovich and to Leonardo da Vinci for his enormous range of interests, and has been honored with the title "Master of a Hundred Arts". A resurgence of interest in Kircher has occurred within the scholarly community in recent decades.

Kircher claimed to have deciphered the hieroglyphic writing of the ancient Egyptian language, but most of his assumptions and translations in this field were later found to be nonsensical. He did, however, correctly establish the link between the ancient Egyptian and the modern Coptic languages, and some commentators regard him as the founder of Egyptology. He is known to have read the work of Ibn Wahshiyya, who had proposed the link between ancient and Coptic Egyptian centuries earlier.

Kircher (crater)

Kircher is a lunar crater that is located in the south-southwestern part of the Moon, near the southern limb. In this position the crater appears foreshortened when viewed from the Earth. It is less than one crater diameter due south of the crater Bettinus, and is nearly attached to Wilson along the south-southeast rim of Kircher.

This crater is distinctive for an interior floor that is level and nearly featureless. It is marked by only a few tiny craterlets, with a single small craterlet near the north-northeast inner wall. The rim and inner wall has been worn and rounded by impacts, although only a few tiny craters lie across the rim. Attached to the outside of the western rim is a crater pair, with the larger of the two designated Kircher D. A small, cup-shaped crater lies on the narrow neck of ground between Kircher and Wilson.

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Kircher.