Karl Gottlieb von Windisch

Karl Gottlieb von Windisch

Karl Gottlieb von Windisch (Latin: Carolus Theophil Windisch, Hungarian: Windisch (Vindis) Károly, January 28, 1725, Pressburg – March 30, 1793, Pressburg) was a Hungarian German writer who produced a series of letters that were published as "Briefe über den Schachspieler von Kempelen nebst drey Kupferstichen die diese berühmte Maschine vorstellen", translated as "Inanimate Reason; or a Circumstantial Account of That Astonishing Piece of Mechanism, M. de Kempelen's Chess-Player; Now Exhibiting at No. 9 Savile-Row, Burlington Gardens", following a series of performances of The Turk that he attended. The letters have been cited often since their publication in attempts to uncover the secret of the machine. Windisch spoke Slovak and Hungarian and was the first publisher of an academic Journal in Eastern Europe.