Ferdinand Verbiest

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Father Ferdinand Verbiest, 1736
An illustration from the 18th century based on Verbiest's descriptions of a self-propelled steam engine.
Verbiest's Observatory in Beijing

Ferdinand Verbiest ( Chinese  南懷仁  /  南怀仁 , Pinyin Nán Huáirén ; born October 9, 1623 in Pittem , † January 28, 1688 in Beijing ) was a Flemish Jesuit missionary .

Life

He reached China in 1660 and worked at the court of the Manchu emperor Kangxi , with whom he developed a friendly relationship.

activities

He entered the Jesuit order in Mechelen on September 2, 1641 and was soon destined to go to China as a missionary. After thorough preparation, it was embarked in 1659. After his arrival in China, he first evangelized in the Shanxi province together with Albert D'Orville (1622–1662) and Jean-Francois Ronusi de Ferraris (1608–1662). When Adam Schall from Bell heard of his skills in 1660, he brought him to Beijing as an assistant. But when Emperor Shunzhi died in 1661 and since his successor Kangxi was still a minor, imperial advisers took over. Their resistance increased up to the persecution of Christians and Verbiest was also thrown into prison. In place of the Jesuits, Chinese mandarins took over the imperial calendar office . After a short time she had so mixed up the calendar that Verbiest was pardoned and brought back from prison. Instead of him, Yang Guangxian , the leader of the Jesuit opponents, was sentenced to perpetual prison in a distant border fortress. Verbiest regulated the astronomical observations anew and was allowed to give the emperor himself lessons in astronomy.

After 1669 he took over the management of the imperial calendar office , which had previously been exercised by the German Jesuit astronomers Johannes Schreck and Adam Schall von Bell.

Around 1670, Verbiest possibly invented the world's first self-driving (= automobile) vehicle model, see also History of the Automobile .

From 1681 he was also at the head of the imperial gun foundry, from which 300 guns emerged within a short time. When he died in 1688, the funeral ceremonies displayed the greatest possible splendor.

Works

Of his works, the "Liber organicus astronomicus Europaeae" of 1668 is particularly noteworthy. There were 125 sheets with drawings and a few Chinese texts explaining the figures, only the title is Latin.

The observatory for the Chinese emperor

In 1673 Verbiest renewed the following old instruments for the Chinese Emperor Kangxi in the old observatory in Beijing :

Appreciation

The asteroid (2545) Verbiest was named after him.

literature

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand Verbiest  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://content.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/mexico&CISOPTR=18
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Marilyn Shea Chinese Astronomy , viewed June 2, 2012
  3. ↑ MPC / Minor Planet Circ. 8800
personal data
SURNAME Verbiest, Ferdinand
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nan Huairen Duanbei; Verbiest, Ferdinandus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION China missionary and astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1623
PLACE OF BIRTH Pittem
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1688
Place of death Beijing