kraków's jagiellonian university is one of the oldest universities in the world (established in 1364), together with the jesuit academy of wilno (established in 1579) they were the major scholarly and scientific centers in the commonwealth. the komisja edukacji narodowej, polish for "commission for national education", formed in 1773, was the world's first national ministry of education. commonwealth scientists included: martin kromer (1512–1589), historian and cartographer; michał sędziwój (1566–1636), alchemist and chemist; jan brożek ("ioannes broscius" in latin) (1585–1652), polymath: a mathematician, physician and astronomer; krzysztof arciszewski ("crestofle d'artischau arciszewski" in portuguese) (1592–1656), engineer, ethnographer, general and admiral of the dutch west indies company army in the war with the spanish empire for control of brazil; kazimierz siemienowicz (1600–1651), military engineer, artillery specialist and a founder of rocketry; johannes hevelius (1611–1687), astronomer, founder of lunar topography; michał boym (1612–1659), orientalist, cartographer, naturalist and diplomat in ming dynasty's service ("pic. 11"); adam adamandy kochański (1631–1700), mathematician and engineer; baal shem tov (הבעל שם טוב in hebrew) (1698–1760), considered to be the founder of hasidic judaism; marcin odlanicki poczobutt (1728–1810), astronomer and mathematician ("pic. 12"); jan krzysztof kluk (1739–1796), naturalist, agronomist and entomologist, john jonston (1603–1675) scholar and physician, descended from scottish nobility. in 1628 the czech teacher, scientist, educator, and writer john amos comenius took refuge in the commonwealth, when the protestants were persecuted under the counter reformation.