Vera A. Keller

Cornelis Drebbel, a now neglected figure, has much to tell us about the origins of experimental science in early modern Europe. As an artist, wonderworker, inventor, alchemist and philosopher, Drebbel excited a transnational public. For over a century, he served as a model for the powers of human invention and discovery. He was written out of the story of science in part due to Enlightenment commitments to a sober, sanitized genealogy of modern reason. Recovering this now marginalized figure and understanding his once immense appeal can contribute to revising our account of the Scientific Revolution.