1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:05,120 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Not too long ago, we talked about John 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:08,680 Speaker 1: Wilkins and his efforts to devise a standard system of 3 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: measurement so in early version of the metric system, and 4 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: we mentioned that we had done a previous episode on 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: a completely different project of his, which involved plans for 6 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: a seventeenth century exploration of the Moon. So here that 7 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: other episode is as Today's Saturday Classic. This one originally 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: came out on August twenty sixth, twenty nineteen. Enjoy Welcome 9 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:44,160 Speaker 1: to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, 10 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:46,840 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Friday and I'm 11 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: Tracy B. Wilson. As you may have noticed, particularly lately, 12 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: I get on a kick. I get obsessed with one 13 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: topic and explore it from multiple angles. That's happening again today. 14 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: We talked about this very recently, but just to recap. 15 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 1: On July twentieth, nineteen sixty nine, Neil Armstrong took his 16 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: place in history as the first man to step on 17 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,480 Speaker 1: the lunar surface. He was joined by Buzz Aldrin. The 18 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: two of them spent several hours walking around on the 19 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: Moon's surface, collecting samples and planting that famous flag, but 20 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: pertinent to today's podcast. More than three hundred years earlier, 21 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: a man named John Wilkins was planning out what he 22 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:25,119 Speaker 1: thought it would take for humans to travel to the Moon. 23 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,399 Speaker 1: Wilkins is interesting because he managed to ride out a 24 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: pretty rocky time in England's history quite well, and he 25 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: was very well known in his day. He for example, 26 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:37,199 Speaker 1: appears in the Diaries of Samuel Peeps. And of course 27 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: mankind was dreaming about the Moon and other space travel 28 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,959 Speaker 1: well before the sixteen hundreds, but the work that Wilkins 29 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: did is the first documented effort at actually kind of 30 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: making that dream a reality. He's not really ready to 31 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: make it into reality, and we'll talk about why. But 32 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: if you listen to our episode on Thomas Harriet that 33 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 1: we did recently, you know that the early years of 34 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: the seventeenth century were really exciting time when it came 35 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: to looking at the Moon. Sixteen oh nine was the 36 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: first time that Harriet and Galileo turned their telescopes to 37 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: Earth's natural satellite, and the scientific community was really excited 38 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: about all of the new information that was revealed as 39 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: a consequence, and Wilkins kind of came in in that 40 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: wave of excitement and became part of it. John Wilkins 41 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,120 Speaker 1: was born in sixteen fourteen in Northamptonshire in the East 42 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 1: Midlands of England, so that was just after that huge 43 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: first push of discoveries with the moon through telescopes had 44 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: been made. He was born into a family of relative means. 45 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: His father, Walter Wilkins, was a goldsmith with a successful business, 46 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: and was a man described as ingenious, with a knack 47 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:49,080 Speaker 1: for understanding anything mechanical, and also ceaselessly curious. His mother's 48 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: side of the family was of the gentry, a number 49 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:54,919 Speaker 1: of clergymen were in it, and her name was Jane Dodd. 50 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: John attended grammar school at Edward Sylvester's in Oxford, and 51 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: when he was still just a boy of eleven, his father, 52 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: Walter died. That was sixteen twenty five, and not long 53 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: after John's mother, Jane remarried, this time to a man 54 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: named Francis Pope. Soon John had a little brother, Walter Pope, 55 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: who would go on to be a poet and astronomer 56 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: of renowned on his own. After a grammar school, John 57 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: started attending Maudlin Hall in Oxford, and from there he 58 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: became an ordained priest at the Church of England. In 59 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: sixteen thirty eight, he moved to the hamlet of Fallsley 60 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: in Northamptonshire and was provided a living by his mother's family. 61 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:33,959 Speaker 1: During his years of school, in which he had learned 62 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: an advanced degree, he had been particularly interested in astronomy, 63 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: and that interest continued as one of his pursuits beyond 64 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: his formal education years. But even so he wasn't really 65 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: discovering anything new. At this point. The available telescopic technology 66 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: had been used to see everything possible with regards to 67 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: the Moon, and it wouldn't be until the middle of 68 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: the century the telescopes would get another boost in their capabilities. 69 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: Besides this, Wilkins was also occupy with his duties as 70 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 1: a vicar and working in his other areas of interest 71 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: and responsibility. He certainly ran in very intellectual circles, and 72 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: he and his friends and colleagues certainly discussed issues of 73 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: space and science. So while he did love astronomy, it 74 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,239 Speaker 1: wasn't really his life's work by any means. In sixteen 75 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,160 Speaker 1: thirty eight, at the age of twenty four, Wilkins published 76 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:24,479 Speaker 1: The Discovery of a World. Its subtitle was a discourse 77 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: tending to prove that 'tis probable that there may be 78 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: another habitable world in the Moon, with a discourse concerning 79 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:35,919 Speaker 1: the possibility of a passage thither. Eventually he wrote a 80 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: second edition with a second supplemental book to the Discovery 81 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: of a New World, and that was titled A Discourse 82 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: concerning a New Planet, and this two volume version was 83 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: published in sixteen forty, so two years after the original. 84 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: The title page of this second volume features Copernicus and 85 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: Galileo facing one another in the foreground, with an illustration 86 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: of the heliocentric planetary system in the background. Wilkins's name 87 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 1: was not initially included as the author of the book. 88 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: No writer was listed in the print, but I was 89 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: not terribly uncommon at the time, and it was widely 90 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: known as his work. It wasn't as though he was 91 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,920 Speaker 1: trying to publish anonymously. And the introduction to this book 92 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:16,280 Speaker 1: he offers the following mornings. Two cautions there are which 93 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,840 Speaker 1: I would willingly admonish thee of in the beginning. One 94 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:23,160 Speaker 1: that thou shouldst not here look to find any exact, 95 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: accurate treatise, since this discourse was but the fruit of 96 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: some lighter studies, and those two huddled up in a 97 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: short time, being first thought of and finished in the 98 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: space of some few weeks. And therefore you cannot, in 99 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,839 Speaker 1: reason expect that it should be so polished as perhaps 100 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:42,599 Speaker 1: the subject would require, or the leisure of the author 101 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,720 Speaker 1: might have done it. Two. To remember that I promise 102 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 1: only probable arguments for the proof of this opinion, and 103 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: therefore you must not look that every consequence should be 104 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,479 Speaker 1: of an undeniable dependence, or that the truth of each 105 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,919 Speaker 1: argument should be measured by its necessity. I grant that 106 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:03,600 Speaker 1: some astronomy appearances may possibly be solved otherwise than here 107 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,920 Speaker 1: they are. But the thing I aim at is this 108 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,719 Speaker 1: that probably they may so be solved as I have 109 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: here set them down, which if it be granted as 110 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: I think it must, then I doubt not. But the 111 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: indifferent reader will find some satisfaction, and the main thing 112 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,320 Speaker 1: that is to be proved. So he was making it 113 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:25,480 Speaker 1: really clear right out of the gate. He's just theorizon. Look, people, 114 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: I'm spitballing here. Don't get too hung up on those details. 115 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: I think this is the opposite of the level of 116 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: confidence from that voyage manuscript decoding that we talked about 117 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: on Unearth recently that was like similarly done in a 118 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: couple of weeks as part of a different thing. Yeah. Yeah, 119 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: but Wilkins is very Look, I'm a minister, I know 120 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: a lot about science, but I'm just I'm thinking through 121 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: my thoughts and I'm bringing you along. But this kind 122 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,040 Speaker 1: of like slightly more casual approach was also probably why 123 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,039 Speaker 1: this actually ended up becoming a really influential publication. He 124 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: was kind of kicking around ideas and working through the 125 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 1: logistics of them, and he was basically showing his work 126 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: for the reader to come along with. Wilkins' text helped 127 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: further promote some of Galileo's ideas about the Moon, specifically 128 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: that it was a solid, compacted, opacious body and that 129 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: humans could potentially visit and maybe even live on it. 130 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: Wilkins covered a number of other topics and the two 131 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: volume work, though they weren't exactly groundbreaking, he bolstered the 132 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: idea fairly commonly held in scientific community at the time 133 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: that the Earth wasn't particularly special as a planet in 134 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: the Solar System, but it was one of many. Yeah, 135 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: this was a time when there was a big shift. 136 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: We'll talk a little bit more about it. In how 137 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: science and theology, which were closely mixed, saw the Earth 138 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: and what it was in relation to the cosmos, and 139 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: that was all changing really rapidly. And while these ideas 140 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: were already pretty commonly accepted in the science community everything 141 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 1: he was talking about, it was the way that Wilkins 142 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 1: wrote about them that really made his work important. He 143 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: wrote in a style, as you can tell, that was 144 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 1: relatively casual compared to most scientific work of the day, 145 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: meaning that the average person could read and understand it, 146 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: and especially because it was illustrated in a way that 147 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 1: was also aimed at readers who were not immersed in science. 148 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,200 Speaker 1: We have talked in previous episodes about how a lot 149 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 1: of scientists in this era were polyglots, and that was 150 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 1: in part just so they could read the work of 151 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,240 Speaker 1: other scientists who spoke and wrote in languages other than 152 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 1: their own. But here was a book that translated everything 153 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,560 Speaker 1: for the reader. There was no knowledge of Latin or 154 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:40,719 Speaker 1: Italian required. We'll talk about another important aspect of Wilkins's 155 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: writing in just a moment, but first we will pause 156 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:55,600 Speaker 1: or a sponsor break. We talked before the break about 157 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: how part of the appeal of Wilkins's work at this 158 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: point was that it was written for the average person 159 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: to understand. And another tenant of Wilkins's work in this 160 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:07,840 Speaker 1: writing is change, as in, he was keenly aware of 161 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:10,080 Speaker 1: just how much our knowledge of the world had changed 162 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: in just a few decades leading up to this writing, 163 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: and he foresaw that the same kind of change in 164 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:19,360 Speaker 1: what was commonly known to entirely new ideas was going 165 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:23,200 Speaker 1: to continue. Wilkins is pretty self reflective, and he understands 166 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: that even though the seventeenth century was seeing entire new 167 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: vistas of science and understanding open up, that they were 168 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:33,719 Speaker 1: going to seem childish to later generations. On this revelation 169 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:37,160 Speaker 1: of new truths, he wrote one that a new truth 170 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 1: may seem absurd and impossible, not only to the vulgar, 171 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:44,680 Speaker 1: but to those also who are otherwise wise men and 172 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 1: excellent scholars. And hence it will follow that every new 173 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: thing which seems to oppose common principles is not presently 174 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,440 Speaker 1: to be rejected, but rather to be pride into with 175 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: a diligent inquiry, since there are many things which are 176 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:03,360 Speaker 1: yet hid from us and reserve for future discovery. Two, 177 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 1: that it is not the commonness of an opinion that 178 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: can privilege it for a truth. The wrong way is 179 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: sometime a well beaten path, whereas the right way, especially 180 00:10:13,679 --> 00:10:17,560 Speaker 1: to hidden truths, may be less trodden and more obscure. 181 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: I sort of love that. Hey, you too, I also 182 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: love listeners don't get to hear it, but like the 183 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 1: slightly atypical spelling of many of these words is delightful. Yeah. 184 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: Of course it fell to portracy to read the the 185 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:38,320 Speaker 1: uncorrected writing of John Wilkins. I didn't do that on purpose. 186 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:41,439 Speaker 1: So he definitely wanted his readers to look at science 187 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:45,040 Speaker 1: and particularly what humanity is a collective new about the 188 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 1: universe with a new eye and an open mind. He 189 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: pointed out the ways that the work of Aristotle, which 190 00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 1: had been groundbreaking in its own time, had become outdated 191 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:56,640 Speaker 1: and led the reader to the idea that knowledge and 192 00:10:56,679 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: discovery was an ongoing, living thing that was not statf 193 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: and in a way, the people in the seventeenth century 194 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: kind of needed to hear this. So much of the 195 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 1: world's scientific knowledge had been upended, as we said, in 196 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:12,840 Speaker 1: those three decades preceding it, particularly not just in astronomy, 197 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: but in geography and physiology, In other fields and in 198 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:19,240 Speaker 1: this very short period of time. So Wilkins was to 199 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 1: some degree preparing his readers for the fact that they 200 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:25,240 Speaker 1: were not going to get all the information and settle down, 201 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,199 Speaker 1: but in fact that change was the new normal of 202 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: the Moon as a habital place. He wrote, quote, I 203 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: must needs confess. Though I had often thought with myself 204 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:37,560 Speaker 1: that it was possible there might be a world in 205 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: the Moon, yet it seemed such an uncouth opinion that 206 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,640 Speaker 1: I never durst discover it for fear of being counted 207 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:50,559 Speaker 1: singular and ridiculous. But afterward, having read Plutarch, Galileis, Kepler, 208 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: and some others, and finding many of mine own thoughts 209 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: confirmed by such strong authority, I then concluded that it 210 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:00,560 Speaker 1: was not only possible there might be, but probably that 211 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:04,240 Speaker 1: there was another habitable world in that planet. So at 212 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:07,240 Speaker 1: this point the details of the Moon's surface, the craters, 213 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:09,839 Speaker 1: and the mountains were things that had really only been 214 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 1: part of our understanding since Galileo and Harriet started looking 215 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:17,199 Speaker 1: at the Moon about thirty years prior. Prior to that, 216 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:19,679 Speaker 1: most people thought that it was a pretty smooth body 217 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 1: because they saw it with the naked eye all the time, 218 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: and while it had some color variation. It wasn't perceived 219 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 1: as being particularly textured, and some of that was tied 220 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:32,200 Speaker 1: up in thinking that today would be seen as very unscientific. 221 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 1: British historian Alan Chapman wrote in a twenty fourteen paper 222 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 1: about Wilkins and his work, quote, to understand the contemporary 223 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: power of Wilkins's arguments, like those of Galileo before him, 224 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:47,200 Speaker 1: one must remember that the classical universe was not just 225 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 1: a physical but also a moral place, seen most obviously 226 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:54,920 Speaker 1: in the juxtaposition between the corrupt, chaotic Earth and the 227 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:59,080 Speaker 1: perfect heavens. There were theories, for example, that the dark 228 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 1: areas of the Moon were spots that had been tarnished 229 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: by light reflected up from the Earth. Yeah, Earth was 230 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:09,320 Speaker 1: a yucky mass and the heavens were beautiful and celestial. 231 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 1: But Wilkins saw Earth and the heavens as part of 232 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 1: one large entity, which he considered in its totality to 233 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,320 Speaker 1: be a divine creation. And this was in contrast to 234 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,440 Speaker 1: the ideology of Aristotle and some of his followers, who 235 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:24,440 Speaker 1: thought that there was a boundary between Earth and the 236 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 1: heavens and that the same scientific rules did not apply 237 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:31,199 Speaker 1: to those two things. In cosmology, it was essentially two 238 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: different systems in their thinking. Wilkins's vision of a more 239 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,640 Speaker 1: holistic view of the universe was a departure from what 240 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,120 Speaker 1: had been believed and taught for centuries at that point. 241 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,360 Speaker 1: All the same matter and that quote the heavens do 242 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,400 Speaker 1: not consist of any such pure matter which can privilege 243 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 1: them from the like change in corruption as these inferior 244 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:53,199 Speaker 1: bodies are liable unto was a thing that he was 245 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:55,640 Speaker 1: a big proponent of. It's all the same stuff, it's 246 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:58,680 Speaker 1: just arranged differently, and he wanted all of it to 247 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:03,160 Speaker 1: be subject to scientific exploration and analysis. Wilkins was also 248 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,720 Speaker 1: a proponent of the idea known as a plurality of worlds, 249 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: and that's that our world was not the only world 250 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: out in the vastness of space, and he believed quote 251 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:16,560 Speaker 1: that a plurality of worlds doth not contradict any principle 252 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 1: of reason or faith. This led to ideas of other 253 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: habitable places among the stars, and today we talk about 254 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:25,320 Speaker 1: the probability of life on other planets based on the 255 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 1: likelihood that some sort of combination of elements created a 256 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: hospitable environment similar to the ways our planet got lucky, 257 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:35,880 Speaker 1: but for Wilkins and his colleagues. Discussion was often centered 258 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:38,560 Speaker 1: around God creating life on other planets, just as they 259 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:41,440 Speaker 1: believed he had on Earth. To talk about the writing 260 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: that Wilkins did regarding the Moon, we have to jump 261 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 1: back to the year of his first one volume edition 262 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:50,480 Speaker 1: of his book, The Discovery of a World, That was 263 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:53,040 Speaker 1: sixteen thirty eight, and there was another book published that 264 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:55,880 Speaker 1: same year. This one was fictional and it was titled 265 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: The Man in the Moon, and that story was written 266 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 1: by Francis Godwin, and it told the tale of the 267 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 1: main character, Domingo Gonzalez, being carried to the Moon by 268 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:07,640 Speaker 1: a flock of geese pulling a chariot. He was incidentally 269 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: trying to get to Spain, but accidentally got the geese 270 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: when they were doing their natural migration to the moon. 271 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 1: Question mark. This mode of transit seems pretty swanky, but 272 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: obviously completely impossible. But still this idea really got Wilkins 273 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:25,880 Speaker 1: thinking about what it would actually take to get a 274 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: man to the moon, and that line of thought was 275 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:32,200 Speaker 1: part of his supplemental volume. Godwin was certainly not the 276 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: first fiction writer to imagine traveling to the moon, but 277 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,320 Speaker 1: he was working with contemporary knowledge of it that previous 278 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,800 Speaker 1: writers had not had. There were certainly other books about 279 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: moon exploration that stoked the fires of Wilkins's imagination as well, 280 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:49,560 Speaker 1: including work by Francis Bacon and Johannes Kuppler, and all 281 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:52,680 Speaker 1: of this that culminated in the sixteen forty edition of 282 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:56,040 Speaker 1: Wilkins's work, in which he stated quote that it is 283 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: possible for some of our posterity to find out a 284 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,960 Speaker 1: conveyance to this other world, and if there be inhabitants there, 285 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 1: to have commerce with them. He is open in his 286 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,600 Speaker 1: writing to the idea that we probably can't really imagine 287 00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:12,960 Speaker 1: what a moon inhabitant might be, though, and his evidence 288 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: that there probably are some sort of inhabitants there is 289 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: kind of the argument that he's been laying out in 290 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:21,720 Speaker 1: the previous chapters of the book. So it's kind of like, look, 291 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 1: the Moon has this property and this property and this property, 292 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: and I think probably maybe God would have put some 293 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: people there. I sort of, as I was working on this, 294 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: really really wished that he could have lived long enough 295 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: to see the Great Moon hoax, but that was two 296 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 1: centuries later. It can be one of our bad uses 297 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: for a time machine. We're going to go, pick him up. 298 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: Take it right, the teacher, John, come with me, don't 299 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: ask questions. While his ideation on a subject was inspired 300 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:53,360 Speaker 1: in part by fantasy, Wilkins was methodical and cataloging the 301 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:56,840 Speaker 1: challenges of space travel. Space Travelers would have to carry 302 00:16:56,880 --> 00:16:59,600 Speaker 1: their needed supplies such as food and water, although he 303 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:01,680 Speaker 1: theory that once they were out of the pull of 304 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: Earth they might not need any food, And then there 305 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:07,120 Speaker 1: was figuring out how to breathe while also not freezing 306 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 1: to death, although he was open to the idea that 307 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,159 Speaker 1: space might not be cold at all. But then there 308 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:14,919 Speaker 1: was the matter of conveyance. So for the vehicle there 309 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:17,680 Speaker 1: were of course myriad concerns. The weight of it would 310 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: be a key factor in its success, and figuring out 311 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:21,920 Speaker 1: how to escape the Earth's pole was going to be 312 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 1: a big issue. Keep in mind, Sir Isaac Newton's Principia, 313 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,360 Speaker 1: in which he discusses the theory of gravity, was still 314 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 1: almost five decades away. It wasn't published until sixteen eighty seven. 315 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,639 Speaker 1: So Wilkins was on to this idea of escape velocity, 316 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:40,199 Speaker 1: but he didn't really have the scientific vocabulary to really 317 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:44,880 Speaker 1: approach it with the right kind of mindset. And there 318 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:47,640 Speaker 1: was also this other matter of time and how we 319 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 1: were going to keep humans alive during a journey to 320 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:52,800 Speaker 1: the Moon, which Wilkins estimated would take about one hundred 321 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: and eighty days. And he had come to that conclusion 322 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:58,639 Speaker 1: based on his knowledge of earth bound travel over long distances, 323 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:03,200 Speaker 1: so calculating like ships traveling across the ocean, et cetera, 324 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:05,879 Speaker 1: led him to make some kind of estimates about that 325 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:09,359 Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty day timeline. Wilkins obviously did not 326 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 1: solve that problem. In sixteen forty, he warned us readers, 327 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: after all, that he was just dealing in theoreticals and 328 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:18,720 Speaker 1: some of his assertions were way off base. He thought 329 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,359 Speaker 1: that Earth was the Moon's moon, just like the Moon 330 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:23,520 Speaker 1: was Earth's moon, which I think is a thing that 331 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: I might have thought when I was like four. Not 332 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:28,639 Speaker 1: trying to disparage him at all, I'm just saying I 333 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 1: understand I could just come to that conclusion. He thought 334 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: that the Moon had seasons just like the Earth does, 335 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 1: and he made it clear that he didn't think they 336 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:39,720 Speaker 1: were exactly alike, but that the Earth and the Moon 337 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 1: were sort of correspondent to one another. Yeah, he didn't 338 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:44,920 Speaker 1: think like that autumn on the Moon was the same 339 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 1: as autumn on Earth, but that they had an autumn 340 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:50,639 Speaker 1: which was a shift from their previous season of summer. Uh. 341 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,800 Speaker 1: And he was also a little dismayed in all of 342 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: this that humans were built in a way that they 343 00:18:56,359 --> 00:19:00,080 Speaker 1: could not physiologically handle travel to the Moon on their own. 344 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:02,639 Speaker 1: So that was kind of his wrap up, like, I 345 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:04,880 Speaker 1: think we can do it. I don't know how. Here 346 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: are my thoughts. So with his book second edition out 347 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: in the world, he continued about his business of being 348 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:12,919 Speaker 1: a vicar and doing self directed scientific work as his 349 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:16,200 Speaker 1: time and interest allowed. Coming up next, we'll talk about 350 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,439 Speaker 1: what else was going on in England in the years 351 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:22,160 Speaker 1: following this second edition of Wilkins's book. First, we will 352 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:32,480 Speaker 1: take a quick break to hear from one of our sponsors. 353 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 1: In the sixteen forties, England was in the midst of 354 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: major upheaval. The reign of King Charles the First had 355 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,159 Speaker 1: been loaded with conflict almost since his coronation in sixteen 356 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,960 Speaker 1: twenty six. He had dissolved the parliament in sixteen twenty nine, 357 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:48,159 Speaker 1: setting off eleven years of what is referred to as 358 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,880 Speaker 1: personal rule, and made a series of unpopular decisions from 359 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 1: there as usual when we talk about such events, this 360 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 1: is worthy of a whole episode of its own, or 361 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:00,960 Speaker 1: even several. And after a series of conflicts Scotland, known 362 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,200 Speaker 1: as the Bishop's Wars, England became embroiled in Civil War 363 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:08,120 Speaker 1: in sixteen forty two, fought between Charles the First Royalist 364 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:12,400 Speaker 1: supporters and the Parliamentarians. This is again a very simplified 365 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:15,359 Speaker 1: version of this whole thing. That fighting continued in various 366 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:17,520 Speaker 1: different battles, and you'll sometimes see it listed out as 367 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:21,120 Speaker 1: even different wars right up into sixteen fifty two. One 368 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:23,920 Speaker 1: of the personal impacts to Wilkins was the the Anglican 369 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,240 Speaker 1: Church in which he was a minister was abolished. But 370 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 1: he came through this very tumultuous time and history and 371 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,399 Speaker 1: pretty good shape. Although Wilkins had been associated with the 372 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 1: royal family and had even been a chaplain to Charles 373 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: the First's nephew, and though his position as an Anglican 374 00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:43,080 Speaker 1: vicar was not a thing anymore, he was a moderate 375 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,359 Speaker 1: and amiable and good with people. And in his scientific 376 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:49,480 Speaker 1: circles his colleagues were aligned with either side of the 377 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:53,560 Speaker 1: much larger conflict, as well as having other ideological backgrounds, 378 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,359 Speaker 1: but their discussions of their work and the theories of 379 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: the day really seemed to supersede all of their other loyalties. 380 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 1: The Oxford Philosophical Club, as their group came to be known, 381 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 1: met in both Oxford and London. Yeah, this was a 382 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:10,200 Speaker 1: very influential group in terms of like where science went 383 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:13,040 Speaker 1: from there. And in sixteen forty eight he was made 384 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:16,199 Speaker 1: warden of Wadham College, and this appointment was done by 385 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:20,000 Speaker 1: the Parliamentary Commissioners. But Wilkins remained able to walk that 386 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,439 Speaker 1: line between parliamentarians and royalists with a lot of grace. 387 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:25,560 Speaker 1: As we said, he got along kind of with everybody, 388 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,399 Speaker 1: and a lot of royalist families sent their sons to 389 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 1: the school while Wilkins was its head. So while he 390 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,720 Speaker 1: hadn't abandoned his thoughts on flight, it was another eight 391 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:37,679 Speaker 1: years before he got back to writing about it. In 392 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,800 Speaker 1: sixteen forty eight, the same year of his appointment at Wadham, 393 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:44,360 Speaker 1: he published a new book which was titled Mathematical Magic, 394 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:48,200 Speaker 1: or the Wonders that May be Performed by Mechanical Geometry. 395 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 1: And in this work he got a lot more detailed 396 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:54,200 Speaker 1: about exactly how one might attain flight. We should mention 397 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: here that the use of the word magic isn't really 398 00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: what we might associate with it today, but more a 399 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,720 Speaker 1: scriptor of the marvel of science. Yeah, there was absolutely 400 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:08,560 Speaker 1: no actual magical element to this. He didn't think there 401 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 1: were incantations involved. He just thought that learning about mechanics 402 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:16,160 Speaker 1: was a magical experience, and he wrote about all kinds 403 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,400 Speaker 1: of mechanisms in this book, Pulleys and Springs and Levers. 404 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:22,639 Speaker 1: The entire first section of the work is dedicated to 405 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,720 Speaker 1: examining the physics of these and other devices that form 406 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:29,000 Speaker 1: the sort of building blocks of larger machines, and like 407 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,679 Speaker 1: his previous writing, he doesn't stick strictly to scientific or 408 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 1: known entities. Here. Many of his ideas are theoretical, and 409 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:39,359 Speaker 1: he owns that He suggests a way to harness the heat, 410 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: for example, that rises through a chimney, so that you 411 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 1: can then turn a spit with it so that the 412 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:46,680 Speaker 1: meat that's roasting on the fire below is cooked evenly. 413 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:51,400 Speaker 1: This sounds fairly great to me, or perhaps in his estimation, 414 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: one could rig a series of gears in such a 415 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:56,560 Speaker 1: way that a simple puff of breath might pull a 416 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 1: tree up from the roots. As with his previous writing, 417 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,159 Speaker 1: Wilkins builds his case very slowly throughout the book. He 418 00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: puts forth all these mechanical possibilities to make the case 419 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,560 Speaker 1: that if humans think creatively and harness the mechanisms at 420 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: our disposal, couldn't we build machines that could fly and 421 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:16,199 Speaker 1: eventually leave the planet. All this theorizing culminates in the 422 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: idea of a flying chariot, and Wilkins's approach is that 423 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:21,560 Speaker 1: if we can figure out how to fly around from 424 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,080 Speaker 1: place to place here on planet Earth, it will then 425 00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:26,040 Speaker 1: be a very short jump to figure out how to 426 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:31,280 Speaker 1: fly into space. I love his optimism so much, but 427 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:33,920 Speaker 1: he doesn't, of course, have a specific version of the 428 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 1: flying chariot in mind. He mentions various potential features it 429 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,120 Speaker 1: could have, but aside from thinking that it probably might 430 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: need gears and wings and springs, it's pretty vague. He 431 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: offers up some some theoretical pictures, but they're not really 432 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 1: anything that could get to space. It starts to read 433 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,159 Speaker 1: a little bit like a theoretical baker bringing you a 434 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: bunch of ingredients and telling you what those ingredients do, 435 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 1: and then concluding with make a cake. So he clearly 436 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,879 Speaker 1: believed it was all possible and he really wanted humanity 437 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:05,400 Speaker 1: to make spaceflight a real thing, so that we could 438 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,200 Speaker 1: go meet the moon people and maybe trade with them. 439 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:11,680 Speaker 1: There are some notes written by wilkins protege Robert Hook 440 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:15,000 Speaker 1: that in the early sixteen fifties the two men tested 441 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,800 Speaker 1: out some kind of flying machine, although details on that 442 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,639 Speaker 1: one are scarce. Yeah, that's literally the only thing we 443 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: know about him doing anything else in this arena. In 444 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,280 Speaker 1: sixteen fifty six, Wilkins married Rabina French, the widowed sister 445 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:30,800 Speaker 1: of Oliver Cromwell, and three years later, in sixteen fifty nine, 446 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,159 Speaker 1: Wilkins moved from Wadham to a more prestigious position as 447 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,280 Speaker 1: Master of Trinity College. That was thanks to the influence 448 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,600 Speaker 1: of his famous brother in law, but the country's fortunes 449 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,840 Speaker 1: made that appointment a very short stay. The English monarchy 450 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,520 Speaker 1: was restored in sixteen sixty, less than a year after 451 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:49,440 Speaker 1: his time at Trinity began, and Wilkins, who had also 452 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,639 Speaker 1: been an advisor to Oliver Cromwell, was removed from the post. 453 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: Sixteen sixty wasn't all bad for John Wilkins, though, his 454 00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:00,520 Speaker 1: Oxford Club received a royal decree from Charles's second new 455 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:04,240 Speaker 1: King and became the Royal Society for Promoting Natural Knowledge. 456 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,679 Speaker 1: This group, which had royal title but not funding, was 457 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: the proto organization for what would eventually become the Royal 458 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:15,239 Speaker 1: Astronomical Society. The Church of England was also restored and 459 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 1: he was once again an influential figure within it, and 460 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 1: Wilkins rose through the ranks of the church, eventually becoming 461 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:24,080 Speaker 1: Bishop of Chester in sixteen sixty eight, and that same 462 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,720 Speaker 1: year he published another work titled An Essay Towards a 463 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,920 Speaker 1: Real Character and the Philosophical Language. In Wilkins's opening note 464 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,760 Speaker 1: to the reader states, it may perhaps be expected of 465 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: some that I should give an account of my engaging 466 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: in a work of this nature so unsuitable to my 467 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,919 Speaker 1: calling and business. In the text, he proposed that the 468 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,680 Speaker 1: development of universal language would really simplify things, and also 469 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,439 Speaker 1: that quote the several nations of the world do not 470 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:51,720 Speaker 1: more differ in their languages than the various kinds and 471 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: proportions of these measures. He wanted there to be a 472 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,320 Speaker 1: consistent system of measurement for the entire globe as well. 473 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:02,200 Speaker 1: While Wilkins wrote many other works on subjects ranging from 474 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:06,040 Speaker 1: cryptography to prayer, it's this sixteen sixty eight work, along 475 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,240 Speaker 1: with his two volumes on the subject of the Moon 476 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:10,600 Speaker 1: and the potential to get there that are his most 477 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 1: well known today. In sixteen seventy two, John Wilkins dine. 478 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,360 Speaker 1: He was fifty eight and he was buried at Saint 479 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:19,480 Speaker 1: Lawrence Jewry, where he had once been a vicar. He's 480 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,720 Speaker 1: so interesting because I don't think many people realize that 481 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,639 Speaker 1: there was a sixteen hundred minister going we need a 482 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:29,040 Speaker 1: space program, you guys. I can only deal with like 483 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 1: the setup of ideas, but somebody else is gonna have 484 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:36,480 Speaker 1: to work out the details. I love it. Yeah, go 485 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:44,639 Speaker 1: to space. Yeah. Thanks so much for joining us on 486 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,600 Speaker 1: this Saturday. Since this episode is out of the archive, 487 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:49,880 Speaker 1: if you heard an email address or a Facebook RL 488 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,320 Speaker 1: or something similar over the course of the show, that 489 00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:56,560 Speaker 1: could be obsolete now. 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