Deaths on May 11

Otto von Guericke, German physicist and politician (b. 1602)

Otto von Guericke ( GAIR-ik-ə, US also GWAIR-, -⁠kee, German: [ˈɔtoː fɔn ˈɡeːʁɪkə]; spelled Gericke until 1666; November 20, 1602 – May 11, 1686 [Julian calendar]; November 30, 1602 – May 21, 1686 [Gregorian calendar]) was a German scientist, inventor, and politician. His pioneering scientific work, the development of experimental methods and repeatable demonstrations on the physics of the vacuum, atmospheric pressure, electrostatic repulsion, his advocacy for the reality of "action at a distance" and of "absolute space" were noteworthy contributions for the advancement of the Scientific Revolution.Von Guericke was a very pious man in the Dionysian tradition and attributed the vacuum of space to the creations and designs of an infinite divinity. Von Guericke described this duality "as something that ‘contains all things’ and is ‘more precious than gold, without beginning and end, more joyous than the perception of bountiful light’ and ‘comparable to the heavens’."