Scientific research in Kircher’s day still had something half-magical about it, and its purpose was nothing less than to penetrate the workings of the Divine Mind. This was the ambition that spurred Athanasius Kircher [circa 1601 – 1680], and it was the self-same goal that inspired many of his scientific contemporaries, from Kepler to Newton.
Joscelyn Godwin, Athanasius Kircher: A Renaissance Man and the Quest for Lost Knowledge, p. 5
“Divine”?
It was late! ;(