1535 – 1615
Giambattista della Porta (c. 1535–1615) was a Neapolitan polymath, natural philosopher, and playwright who synthesized Renaissance occult philosophy with early empirical inquiry. Best known for his encyclopedic Magia Naturalis, he explored natural magic, optics, cryptography, physiognomy, and agronomy, positioning natural wonders as explicable through hidden causes rather than supernatural intervention. He founded one of the earliest scientific academies, the Accademia dei Segreti, and exerted wide influence on subsequent natural philosophy and proto-scientific thought.
Authored Magia Naturalis (1558, expanded 1589), a foundational Renaissance text on natural magic and hidden causes in nature
Founded the Accademia dei Segreti in Naples, one of the earliest recorded scientific societies
Made early contributions to optics, including descriptions of the camera obscura and lens combinations anticipating the telescope
Developed a systematic physiognomy linking human facial features to character, widely read across Europe
Produced influential works on cryptography (De Furtivis Literarum Notis) and agronomy (Villae)