2015
Vera A. Keller
- Assistant Professor
- University of Oregon
![Picture of Vera A. Keller](https://www.acls.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/BA62384C-EAB6-E411-9417-000C29879DD6.jpg)
Abstract
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.