Athanasius Kircher:
chrono by al klisiak

1601 b. at Geisa
1612 Kircher studies under Father Johann Altink at the
Papal Seminary in Fulda
1618 Entered society of Jesus at Paderborn
c1618-25 Studies natural sciences and classical
languages, called to teach at Jesuit colleges in
Colblenz and Heiligenstadt 
1622 Flees Paderborn
1623 Transferred to Koblenz to study humanities and to
teach Greek at the Jesuit school
1625 Begins theological studies in Mainz, obtains
telescope; observes sunspots.
1628 Ordained priest, enters his Tertianship at Spiers
c1629 Given chair of ethics and mathematics at
University of Wurzburg, also gave instructions in
Syrian and Hebrew languages
1630 Mount Vesuvius erupts attracting Kircher,
petitions Superior General to let him go to China as a
missionary--denied.
1631 Due to war traveled to Lyons and later to
Avignon,"Ars Magnesia" publ.
1633 Summoned to succeed Johannes Kepler as
mathametician to the Hapsburg Court
1635 Arrives in Rome where he is given commision to
study Hieroglyphs at the Roman College.
1637 Kircher's second request to become a missionary
in China is denied.
1638 Studied volcanoes at the Strait of Messina
1638 Left Messina to Return to Naples, climbs Vesuvius
at Naples-- "Specula Melitensis Encyclica sive
syntagma novum instumentorum physico-mathamaticorum" 
publ.
1646 John Bargave, and Andreas Gryphius meet Kircher
1647 Vitus Bering meets Kircher
1652 Joost van den Vondel sends his Pindaric ode to
Kircher: "Teecken-tlock van den E. Heere Athanasius
Kircher Verlichter vand de gebloemde Wijsheid
Egytenaren"
1652-1655 Works on machines for Baroque Court with
Kaspar Schott (the speaking tube, aolian harp, magic
lantern?)
1659 Visits Florence
1661 Visited by Christian Ernst, Margrave of
Brandenburg, Robert Southwell
c.1663 Johannes Jansson van Waesberghe had offered
Kircher 2000 scudi for all of his writings
1666 Forwards his prized manuscript in Large
Estrangelo Syriac of the Gospels, to Duke August of
Brunswick-Lunenburg.
"Polygraphia deu artificium lingarum, quo cum omnibus
totius mundi populis poterit quis correspondere", his
attempt to form a universal language publ.
c.1667  Prince Cardinal Leopoldo de'Medici and Duke
Ferdinand request Kircher's skills, he works on
geneological research into "la grandezza  della casa
Medicea"
1678 Kircher's Medicean notes passed on to Alessandro
Segni and Elia Georgio, "Atlas Thuscus sive
universalis Hetruriae descriptio" finished and sent to
Jansson in Amsterdam for printing.
1680 d. at Rome

Comes by way of an Article by John Fletcher
"Athanasius Kircher: a man under pressure" printed in
"Athanasius Kircher und seube Beziehungen zum
gelehrten Europa seiner Zeit."
and the Catholic Encyclopedia, and a web page with
"Jocyelyn Godwin's Athanasius Kircher; A Renaissance
Man and the Quest for Lost Knowledge", which is:
http://www.akasha.de/~allen/kirlife.html