Talk:John Wilkins

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Wasn't he eduacated in Magdalen Hall, Cambridge? He was brought up in Oxford. And Magdalen College, Oxford has always been Magdalen College. Magdalen Hall, which is now Hertford, is unrelated to Magdalen College. JH

No, he was educated at Magdalen Hall Oxford -- which as you say is now Hertford College. It was related to Magdalen College in that it was sited in premises adjacent to Magdalen College and that college appointed, I think, the head of the Hall. Simon Kershaw 14:16, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Bladder stones?

According to:

• Chapman, Allan (2005). England's Leonardo: Robert Hooke and the Seventeenth-Century Scientific Revolution. CRC Press. ISBN 0750309873.

he died from a six-day stoppage of the urine, which was initially blamed on bladder stones. However, no stones were found during his autopsy. Instead, he may have died from the peculiar mixture of medicines provided by his doctors.—RJH (talk) 20:45, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Heads of houses

While the claim for Wilkins is that he is the only person to have been "head of house" in both Cambridge and Oxford, that seems to be wrong. Walter Haddon was head of both Trinity Hall, Cambridge and Magdalen College, Oxford. There might be some quibble about his time at Magdalen, which was controversial. But the statement as it stands seems questionable. Charles Matthews (talk) 14:59, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Grammar?

Not sure about: "Wilkins is one of the only persons ..." He was either "the only person" or "one of the few people". --WestwoodMatt (talk) 23:01, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

Fausto Veranzio's parachute

Wilkins' Mathematical Magick (1648) is usually quoted as reporting Fausto Veranzio's personally testing his parachute by jumping in 1617 (a) from a bridge in Venice, (b) from the Campanile or simply from an undisclosed tower in Venice, or (c) from the tower of St. Martin in Bratislava. All of it appears strange: Veranzio died in January or February 1617 at the age of 65/66 from a severe illness. He had intended to return from Rome to his native Sibenik, but was not able to continue any further than Venice. And that man is said to have jumped from wherever? Two or three weeks before his death? Does anybody know what Wilkins really wrote? --AHert (talk) 14:27, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

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Some mention of fictional appearances and essays about him.

Borges wrote an essay about him, and Neal Stephenson had him as a character in his Baroque Cycle. It would be approppriate to reference it somehow. Not sure how. -- Cimon Avaro; on a pogostick. (talk) 16:20, 12 October 2021 (UTC)