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Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Articles, videos, audio, and resources supporting Faith and Science

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science
Home→Tags sof-Merian

Tag Archives: sof-Merian

The Girl Who Drew Butterflies

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Book 130 pages Level: all audiences This is a book about Maria Sybilla Merian, written for readers at the middle school level and up.  The author is Joyce Sidman, and it was published in 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.  Merian was a scientist who carefully studied caterpillars, butterflies, and moths and the plants on which they fed—and she was an artist who made beautiful drawings of the creatures that she studied.  Merian wrote that “one is full of praise at God’s mysterious power and the wonderful attention he pays to such insignificant little creatures”.  While the book is primarily about Merian’s studies, the author also discusses Merian’s religion, which played a large role in her life. From the author’s web page: Everyone knows that butterflies come from caterpillars, right?  Not in the 17th century, they didn’t. How would they have known? Metamorphosis took place in hidden places. There were no books describing this process, or Monarch kits to send away for. … Continue reading →

Posted in 17th Century, General Reflections, History of Church and Science, Life in the Universe | Tagged sof-Merian, Younger-Readers

Maria Sibylla Merian – Wondrous Transformations (1647-1717)

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article (book chapter) 29 pages Level: high school and above The 2017 book Lost Science: Astonishing Tales of Forgotten Genius by author Kitty Ferguson consists of ten free-standing chapters covering different figures from the history of science.  The chapter on Maria Sibylla Merian focuses on her studies of insects, and especially the transformations of caterpillars into moths or butterflies.  Merian was for a while a member of a Lutheran pietist community called the “Labadists”, and she viewed the insect transformation as common miracles of God, writing: These wondrous transformations have happened so many times that one is full of praise for God’s mysterious power and his wonderful attention to such insignificant little creatures and unworthy flying things…. Thus I am moved to present God’s miracles such as these to the world in a little book. Click here for information from Sterling Publishing, publisher of Lost Science: Astonishing Tales of Forgotten Genius. Click here for a preview of this chapter. Click here … Continue reading →

Posted in 17th Century, General Reflections, History of Church and Science, Life in the Universe | Tagged sof-Merian
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