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Ricci, Matteo
- 1. Dates
- Born: Macerata, Italy, 6 Oct 1552 died, Peking (Beijing), 11 May 1610
- Died:
- Dateinfo: 58
- Lifespan:
- 2. Father
- Occupation: Pharmacist
- A pharmacist.
- No information on financial status.
- 3. Nationality
- Birth: Macerata, Italy
- Career: China
- Death: Peking, China
- 4. Education
- Schooling: Collegio Romano; D.D.
- 1561, attended the Jesuit school at Macerata.
- 1568, was sent to Rome by his father to study law.
- 1572-7, enrolled at the Collegio Romano. I assume the equivalent of at least B.A.
- 1579, when ill in Cochin, recalled to Goa, a Portugese colony in India, for a four-year theology course. He got through three and a half before being sent out again. This information puzzles me. Ricci was a Jesuit professed of the fourth vow; as such his intellectual preparation had to have included a doctorate in theology. I am listing it.
- 5. Religion
- Affiliation: Catholic
- Catholic, joined the Jesuit order in 1571.
- 6. Scientific Disciplines
- Primary: Mathematics, Astronomy, Geography
- 7. Means of Support
- Primary: Church Life
- After joining Jesuit order and studying at the Collegio Romano, he was ordered for missions in the orient.
- In 1579, he fell ill in Cochin, India and was recalled to Goa.
- 1582, he moved from Goa to Macao, and in 1583, entered the Chinese Empire, settling at Ch'ao-ching (Shiuhing), Kwantung province.
- After establishing missions in different parts of China, he settled in Peking in 1601, where he remained until his death.
- 8. Patronage
- Types: Gov[?], Crt[?]
- 1583, he was invited by the Governor of Shiuhing, Wang P'an, to go there, and Wang was responsible for Ricci's being able to stay. A new viceroy was able to have him expelled in 1589.
- In Peking he was under the protection of the Emperor, Wan- li.
- 9. Technological Involvement
- Types: None
- Part of his dissemination of western science was making instruments. He taught his students to make sundials and a type of astrolabe. Since this does not appear to involve any development of new instruments, I will not list it.
- 10. Scientific Societies
- Memberships: None
- Sources
- Vincent Cronin, The Wise Man from the West (Glasgow, 1986).
- [BV3427.R4 C9] Full of description and anecdote.
- Henri Bernard, Matteo Ricci's Scientific Contribution to China, E.C. Werner, trans. (Peiping: Henri Vetch, 1935). [Q143.R5 B52] Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, passim. [Biol. DS721.N37] There were some sources in Chinese in the card catalogue under Ricci.
- Not Available and Not Consulted
- Étienne Ducornet, Matteo Ricci, le lettre de'Occident, (Paris, 1992).
- Compiled by:
- Richard S. Westfall
- Department of History and Philosophy of Science
- Indiana University
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