Elias Ashmole was an antiquarian, collector, politician, and student
of astrology and alchemy. He supported the royalist side during the
English Civil War, and at the restoration of Charles II he was
rewarded with several lucrative offices. Throughout his life he was an
avid collector of curiosities and other artifacts. Many of these he
acquired from the traveller, botanist, and collector John Tradescant,
and most he donated to Oxford University to create the Ashmolean
Museum. He also donated his library and priceless manuscript
collection to Oxford. Apart from his collecting activities, Ashmole
illustrates the passing of the pre-scientific world view in the
seventeenth century: while he immersed himself in alchemical, magical
and astrological studies and was consulted on astrological questions
by Charles II and his court, these studies were essentially
backward-looking. Although he was one of the founding members of the
Royal Society, a key institution in the development of experimental
science, he never participated actively.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_Ashmole
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1615:
Forces under the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu took Osaka Castle in Japan.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Castle)
1792:
Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound for Great Britain.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_Sound)
1920:
The Kingdom of Hungary was split into five countries with the signing
of the Treaty of Trianon in Paris.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Trianon)
1942:
The Battle of Midway began with a massive Imperial Japanese strike on
Midway Atoll.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway)
1989:
The People's Liberation Army cracks down on the Tiananmen Square
protests in Beijing.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided
the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn
and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the
same as the survival of the soul." -- Victor Hugo in Les
Misérables
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo)