Johann(es) Schreck, also Terrenz or Terrentius Constantiensis, Deng Yuhan Hanpo 鄧玉函, Deng Zhen Lohan, (1576, Bingen, Baden-Württemberg or Constance – 11 May 1630,

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

) was a German

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, missionary to China and

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

. He is credited with the development of scientific-technical terminology in Chinese.

Early life

Schreck studied medicine starting in 1590 at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, the

University of Altdorf The University of Altdorf () was a university in Altdorf bei Nürnberg, a small town outside the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg. It was founded in 1578 and received university privileges in 1622 and was closed in 1809 by Maximilian I Joseph of Ba ...

. After graduating, he is also known to have worked as an assistant to the mathematician

François Viète François Viète (; 1540 – 23 February 1603), known in Latin as Franciscus Vieta, was a French people, French mathematician whose work on new algebra was an important step towards modern algebra, due to his innovative use of letters as par ...

in Paris in around 1600. After Viète's death in 1603, he moved to the

University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

, where he was a student of

Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

, but studied medicine.E Schreck had an exceptional facility with languages; he spoke German, Italian, Portuguese, French and English. Like most educated men of his time, he wrote his letters in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. He also mastered Ancient Greek, Hebrew and

Biblical Aramaic Biblical Aramaic is the form of Aramaic that is used in the books of Daniel and Ezra in the Hebrew Bible. It should not be confused with the Targums — Aramaic paraphrases, explanations and expansions of the Hebrew scriptures. History During ...

. Later in his life, he learned Chinese.

Sojourn in Rome

Schreck became a highly respected medic and was affiliated to the

Accademia dei Lincei The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, which he joined on 3 May 1611, a few days after

. Together with two other German-speaking members of the Accademia, Giovanni Faber and Theophilus Müller, he worked on the encyclopaedia of

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

''Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus'' which had been begun decades before by

Francisco Hernández de Toledo Francisco Hernández de Toledo (c. 1515 – 28 January 1587) was a naturalist and court physician to Philip II of Spain. He was among the first wave of Spanish Renaissance physicians practicing according to the revived principles formulated by Hipp ...

and purchased, incomplete, by Federico Cesi. This work did not occupy him for long however, as he decided to join the

order, taking his vows on 1 November 1611. Galileo described his decision as "''Una gran perdita''" – "a big loss".

Passage to China

The founder of the Jesuit mission in China,

Matteo Ricci Matteo Ricci (; ; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610) was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He created the , a 1602 map of the world written in Chinese characters. In 2022, the Apostolic See decl ...

, had sent his colleague

Nicolas Trigault Nicolas Trigault (1577–1628) was a Jesuit, and a missionary in China. He was also known by his latinised name Nicolaus Trigautius or Trigaultius, and his Chinese name Jin Nige (). Life and work Born in Douai (then part of the County of Flanders ...

back to Europe to search out new missionaries who could share the most advanced scientific ideas with the Chinese.Toby E. Huff, Intellectual Curiosity and the Scientific Revolution: A Global Perspective, CUP 2010 pp.78-9 Trigault met Schreck in Rome in 1614, while Schreck was studying theology, and persuaded him to go to China. To raise money and equipment for their mission, they travelled around Europe in 1616, soliciting donations and collecting books, mechanical equipment and scientific instruments. One of their donors was Cardinal

Federico Borromeo Federico Borromeo (; 18 August 1564 – 21 September 1631) was an Italian cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan, Archbishop of Milan, and prominent figure of the Counter-Reformation in Italy. His acts of charity, ...

of Milan, who gave them what was to be the first western telescope in China. In April 1618, Schreck sailed from

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

with a group of Jesuits Trigault had assembled, including Giacomo Rho and Johann Adam Schall von Bell. After several pirate attacks and outbreaks of disease Schreck arrived at Goa in October 1618. He continued on his way, collecting samples of flora and fauna wherever he stopped en route; Giulio Aleni later claimed that alone he had discovered more than five hundred new plants. His plan was to produce a compendium with the title ''Plinius Indicus'' (''The Indian Pliny''), similar to Hernandez's volume on Mexico. He worked on this project throughout his stay in China, and expanded it to include descriptions of more than 8,000 varieties of plant, but his early death meant it was never finished. His manuscripts were preserved, perhaps into the eighteenth century, in the collections of the Portuguese College in Beijing, but are now lost.

Early work in China

Schreck reached

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

on 22 July 1619 during a period towards the end of the reign of the Ming Emperor Wanli, when Jesuits had been expelled from Beijing and

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

. He, therefore, spent nearly two years in Macau learning Chinese before continuing to

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

in June 1621. There, probably in collaboration with a Christian convert named Li Zhizao, he wrote ''Taixi renshen shuogai'' (''An Outline of Western Theories of the Human Body''), based on ''Theatrum anatomicum'' by Caspar Bauhin. This work described the human body, the senses and language, including an outline of

's famous memory palace. The book was edited by another convert, Bi Gongchen, and published after Schreck's death. After reaching Beijing in late 1623 Schreck began collaborating closely with a judge and military inspector from

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

named Wang Zheng. In 1627 the two of them published ''Yuanxi Qiqi Tushuo Luzui'' (), ( Diagrams and explanations of the wonderful machines of the Far West).

Astronomy

had asked Trigault to bring back missionaries with a knowledge of astronomy and, as Schreck was the ablest of the new recruits, much of the work translating and explaining astronomical works fell to him. For help in this task, Schreck wrote for advice to

Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best know ...

who replied in 1627, explaining how predictions could be improved by using an elliptical model for the Moon's orbit, and enclosing a copy of his new ''

Rudolphine Tables The ''Rudolphine Tables'' () consist of a star catalogue and planetary tables published by Johannes Kepler in 1627, using observational data collected by Tycho Brahe (1546–1601). The tables are named in memory of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emper ...

''. In advance of the solar eclipse of 21 June 1629 over Beijing, Schreck and Nicolò Longobardo competed with Chinese astronomers to predict the timing with the greatest accuracy. The Jesuits' calculations were more accurate, and on this basis, the Emperor Chongzhen asked them to undertake a revision of the Chinese calendar.Agustín Udías, Jesuit Contribution to Science: A History, Springer, 27 Sep 2014 p.87 Schreck also produced plans for building astronomical instruments, which were approved by the Emperor. However he died shortly afterwards, and the project was completed by Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Giacomo Rho. Schall also published a manuscript by Schreck containing much of his knowledge of astronomy and related mathematics, called ''Ce tian yue shuo'' () (''Brief Description of the Measurement of the Heavens''). This describes the basics of astronomy, the movements of heavenly bodies, the working of the telescope, and

sunspot Sunspots are temporary spots on the Sun's surface that are darker than the surrounding area. They are one of the most recognizable Solar phenomena and despite the fact that they are mostly visible in the solar photosphere they usually aff ...

s, although the existence of these had been known in China for some time. Schall likewise revised and published two works by Schreck on

trigonometry Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics concerned with relationships between angles and side lengths of triangles. In particular, the trigonometric functions relate the angles of a right triangle with ratios of its side lengths. The fiel ...

, ''Da ce'' () (''The Great Measurement'') and ''Ge-yuan ba-xian biao'' () (''A Table of Eight Lines''), the latter together with Rho.

Death

Schreck is said to have died as a result of a medical experiment on himself. He is buried in the Zhalan Cemetery in Beijing.

References

External links

*
"Johannes Schreck-Terrentius Constantiensis. Wissenschaftler und Chinamissionar" (HWTG Konstanz)
* Rainer-K. Langner: ''Kopernikus in der Verbotenen Stadt. Wie der Jesuit Johannes Schreck das Wissen der Ketzer nach China brachte.'' S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt 2007 * Isaïa Iannaccone: '' L'ami de Galilée '' 2008 Livre de Poche
Digital version of Schreck's 'Yuanxi Qiqi Tushuo Luzui' (1627)
* Isaia Iannaccone: "Johanns Schreck Terrentius. Le scienze rinascimentali e lo spirito dell'Accademia dei Lincei nella Cina dei Ming", Napoli 1998, Ed. by Istituto Universitari Orientale, 147 PP. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schreck, Johann 1576 births 1630 deaths People from Sigmaringen (district) 17th-century German Jesuits University of Freiburg alumni University of Altdorf alumni Jesuit missionaries in China German sinologists German missionaries in China German Roman Catholic missionaries German male non-fiction writers Jesuit scientists Members of the Lincean Academy