Govaert Wendelen (1580–1667) is one of the most overlooked figures in both national and international histories of science. Yet during his lifetime, this priest and astronomer from Herk-de-Stad gained a European reputation as an astronomer, chronologist, philologist and naturalist. His career challenges several persistent assumptions about seventeenth-century science. In this Da Vinci Lecture organised by the KVAB, Steven Vanden Broecke, Professor of History at Ghent University, affiliated with the Sarton Centre for History of Science and member of the National Committee for Logic, History and Philosophy of Science, invites us to explore seventeenth-century science through Wendelen’s life and work—not as a series of isolated theoretical breakthroughs, but as a multifaceted practice connecting knowledge, faith and social action.
The lecture (10 September, Academy Palace Brussels) is free, but registration is required. More information via the link.
