Johann Adam Schall von Bell
| Johann Adam Schall von Bell | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Adam Schall
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| Born |
1 May 1592 Cologne or Lüftelberg, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 15 August 1666 (aged 75) Beijing, Qing China |
| Fields | Astronomy, Religion |
| Alma mater | Collegium Germanicum, Gregorianum |
Johann Adam Schall von Bell (simplified Chinese: 汤若望; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) (May 1, 1592 – August 15, 1666) was a German Jesuit and astronomer. He spent most of his life as a missionary in China and became an adviser to the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty.
Schall von Bell was born to noble parents in Cologne or nearby Lüftelberg (today part of Meckenheim) in the Holy Roman Empire. After he graduated from the Jesuit Gymnasium in Cologne he moved to Rome and studied subjects such as mathematics and astronomy at the Collegium Germanicum. In 1611 he joined the Society of Jesus and continued his education at the Gregorianum.
In 1618 he left for China on a Portuguese ship with a group of missionaries under the lead of Nicolas Trigault. The following year the group reached the Portuguese colony of Macao where Schall von Bell spent some time learning Chinese. He started missionary work inside China in 1622, but allegedly his success was limited.
Schall von Bell and Giacomo Rho were sent to Beijing in 1630 to continue the work of the deceased Johann Schreck on a reform of the Chinese calendar. He participated in modifying the Chinese calendar and compiling what is known as the Chongzhen calendar. Named after the Chongzhen Emperor, the last emperor of the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644), the modified calendar provided more accurate predictions of eclipses of the sun and the moon.
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