(1614-1672) UK philosopher who served as the Bishop of Chester. He wrote no fiction, but was one of the first popularizers of science and a propagandist for scientific progress whose speculative nonfiction is remarkable. The third edition of The Discovery of a New World; Or, a Discourse Tending to Prove, That 'tis Probable There May be Another Habitable World in Moone (1638; exp vt The Discovery of a World in the Moone. Or, a Discourse Tending to Prove That 'tis Probable There May be Another Habitable World in that Planet: The second Booke, now first Published 1640) includes a brief discourse on the possibility of travel to the Moon. The exact titles of both first and revised edition remain uncertain.

Mercury, Or, the Secret and Swift Messenger: Shewing how a Man May with Privacy and Speed Communicate his Thoughts to a Friend at any Distance (1641) deals primarily with the encoding of messages, but contains instructions as to how to convey messages across great distances, and speculations about a Universal Language. Mathematicall Magick; Or, the Wonders That May be Performed by Mechanicall Geometry (1648) [for full title see Checklist] is a treatise on Technology, including essays on submarines, flying machines and perpetual-motion Machines (of whose feasibility he was sceptical). While he was Master of Wadham College, Oxford, he founded the Philosophical Society, which in 1662 became the Royal Society.

Wilkins appears as a character in Neal Stephenson's historical fantasia about the Enlightenment, The Baroque Cycle (2003-2004), where he is described as the author of a text called Quicksilver, which presumably represents a transubstantiation of Mercury (see above), a text named in the sequence. [BS/JC]

see also: Religion; Spaceships; Transportation; Under the Sea.

John Wilkins

born Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire: 1 January 1614

died London: 19 November 1672

works

• The Discovery of a New World; Or, a Discourse Tending to Prove, That 'tis Probable There May be Another Habitable World in the Moone (London: Printed for Michael Sparke and Edward Forrest, 1638) [nonfiction: binding unknown]
  • The Discovery of a World in the Moone. Or, a Discourse Tending to Prove That 'tis Probable There May be Another Habitable World in that Planet: The second Booke, now first Published (London: Printed for John Maynard, 1640) [nonfiction: exp vt of the above: binding unknown/]
  • Discourse concerning a new planet; tending to prove, that ('tis probable) our earth is one of the planets [this title has also been given for the 1640 edition; not determined if it is a continuation of the above title, or a different title entirely]
• Mercury, Or, the Secret and Swift Messenger: Shewing how a Man May with Privacy and Speed Communicate his Thoughts to a Friend at any Distance (London: Printed for John Maynard, and Timothy Wilkins, 1641) [nonfiction: binding unknown]
• Mathematicall Magick; Or, the Wonders That May be Performed by Mechanicall Geometry: In Two Books, Concerning Mechanicall Powers, Motions: Being One of the Most Easie, Pleasant, Usefull, (And yet Most Neglected) Part of Mathematicks: Not Before Treated of in this Language (London: Printed for Sa Gellibrand, 1648) [nonfiction: binding unknown]

links

Previous versions of this entry

• 01/01/2005
• 20/12/2011