1540-1620

Early Jesuit scientific investigations were for the most part conservatively grounded in Aristotelian natural philosophy and the "classical" sciences of geometry, astronomy, optics, statics, and mechanics. Jesuit science during the period 1580 to 1620 is characterized by commentaries on Aristotle, Euclid, and other ancient writers, and by the mathematical and astronomical works of scientists such as Christoph Clavius. Works by Jesuits against magic, demonology, alchemy, and astrology are also common in this period, some reflecting a belief in there practices, others written in an attempt by members of the Society to differentiate superstition and pseudo-science from true scientific investigation.