Athanasius Kircher was a German-born Jesuit priest and scholar. Based in Rome, he studied everything from Egyptian hieroglyphs to geology, music, medicine and optics, and is sometimes called “the last man who knew everything.” His works include Mundus Subterraneus (The Subterranean World), on the fires and waters inside the Earth.
Because he was known for his work on Egyptian hieroglyphs, a scholar in Prague is said to have sent him the Voynich Manuscript and asked him to decipher it. A letter from 1665 (or 1666) found tucked inside the manuscript was addressed to Kircher.
