Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

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‘purely scientific’: as an expert on the transits of Venus, Hell no doubt knew of the advantages offered by the high-northern latitude of Vardø. This aspect will be highlighted in parts II and III of this thesis. The expedition was originally envisaged to last no longer than a few months. The Viennese astronomer could reach Vardø in the spring of 1769 and return to the Habsburg capital before the end of the same year, ambassador Bachoff suggested. However, it soon became clear that Maximilianus Hell had more ambitious plans. In March 1768, just weeks before he set out from Vienna, he sent the following letter to the Pope: 200 Most humble prayers to His Holiness Pope Clement XIII for obtaining permission for dispensations because of a journey to be undertaken through non- Catholic lands upon call from the King of Denmark. Since upon invitation from His most Serene King of Denmark, communicated through His Ambassador to the Imperial Court in Vienna Count von Bachoff, and upon permissions from Her Highness the Empress Maria Theresa and from the General of the Society of Jesus His most Reverend Father Laurentius Ricci, a long journey is to be undertaken, funded by the King of Denmark, beginning this spring and lasting for several years, going through Saxony, Brandenburg, Denmark and Sweden to the farthest island of Norway by the Arctic Sea, called Vardøhus, a place where I will have to stay for rather a tout est intéressant, et le P. Hell avait tout étudié […]” = “In these northern regions, so rarely visited and so little explored, eveything is of interest, and Father Hell studied everything”. 200 Hell to Pope Clement XIII, dated Vienna 5 March 1768 (Vatican See, Archivio Segreto Vaticano, “Archivio della Nunziatura Apostolica in Vienna”, vol. 136, fol. 45recto [secretary’s copy]): “Preces humillimae 5 ta Martii Romam missae 1768 // Ad sanctissimum Papam Clementem XIII. pro impetrandis dispensationibus, et facultatibus causa itineris per Regiones Acatholicorum ad evocationem Regis Daniæ faciend[i]. // Cum ad serenissimi Regis Daniae per suum ad Aulam Caesaream Viennensem Legatum Comitem de Bachoff factam evocationem, et obtentam ab Augustissima Jmperatrice Maria Theresia, atque a Praeposito Generali Societatis Jesu Adm. R. Patre Laurentio Ricci licentiam sumptibus Regis daniae grande, et per aliquot annos duraturum iter proximo Vere mihi cum Socio Sacerdote é mea Societate, atque famulo Catholico incohandum sit per Saxoniam, Brandeburgum, Daniam, Sueciam, ad supremam usque Norwegiae Jnsulam in Mari glaciali sitam, Wardhus dictam, ibique per longius tempus causa observationum Astronomicarum a Rege Daniae mihi imperatarum commorandum sit, iterumque peragrata tota Suecia, et Dania, fortassis per Hollandiam, Belgiam, Angliam, Gallias, et totum Jmperium redeundum erit Viennam; hocque iter, hęcque mea cum socio meo commoratio in Regionibus hujusmodi Acatholicorum futura sit, in quibus neque Templa publica neque Sacella Catholicorum habentur, neque ullum Catholicae Religionis exercitium toleretur, et pręterea veste Religiosa in secularem mutata, nos in publico ita gerere oporteat, ut non modo non sacerdotes, sed subinde in certis Circumstantijs neque Catholicos suspicari debeant; His de causis ad evitanda mala, ad solatium spirituale, ad sedandos scrupulous conscientiae, infra scripti supplices sumus sanctissimo Pontifici pro clementissime indulgendis sequentibus mihi, meoque socio, et famulo summe necessarijs dispensationibus, et facultatibus. // Primo: quamdiu inter acatholicos sub veste sęculari, aut vero, quamdiu in ipso itinere etiam inter Catholicos versabimur, propter nimios labores diurnos nocturnosque tum propter itinerum gravia incommoda, tum ne per iter inter Acatholicos, sacerdotes esse noscant, humillime supplicamus pro absolvenda obligatione recitandi Breviarij. // Secundo: demissime supplicamus pro facultate sacrum faciendi in sacellis domesticis Legatorum Catholicorum, ubi has repererimus, item pro facultate Missam celebrandi supra portatili nobiscum occulte ferendi, in Cubiculis privatis, aut sub tentorijs saltem diebus festis, et dominicis. // Tertio: Pro casu necessitatis, dum alio inter Acatholicos versantes esum carnium diebus ab Ecclesia prohibitis evitare non poterimus, dispensationem, facultatemque cibis carnium vescendi humillime petimus. // P. Maximilianus Hell S.J. Astronomus Caesareo- Regius, cum socio sacerdote ex eadem Societate Jesu, et famulo Catholico.” - 108 -
long time because of astronomical observations that I have been ordered by the King of Denmark to undertake, followed by a return journey to Vienna, going through entire Sweden and Denmark and then perhaps through Holland, Belgium, England, France and the entire [Holy Roman] Empire, and since this journey and sojourn will befall me and my assistant in non-Catholic lands of this kind, in which neither official churches nor other places of Catholic worship are found and no worship of the Catholic religion is tolerated, and where our religious dress will need to be exchanged for secular clothing and we on the whole will have to behave in public in such a way that we not only avoid incurring the suspicion of being priests, but on certain occasions even must avoid being recognised as Catholics, we hereby beg, on behalf of myself, my assistant and my servant, in order to avoid danger, receive spiritual solace and sedate scruples, to be bestowed by His Most Holy Pontiff the most gracious permission for the utterly necessary dispensations that are stated below. First, for as long as we stay among non-Catholics, and even when travelling amongst Catholics, because of the strenuous labours both day and night as well as the incommodities caused by the conditions of travelling, and not least in order to avoid being recognised as priests while amongst non- Catholics, we beg most humbly to be freed from the obligation of reciting the Breviary. Second, we beg most humbly to be allowed to minister at domestic altars of Catholic ambassadors, whenever we find such persons, and to be allowed to celebrate mass upon a portable table which we will bring with us in secret, either in private rooms or at least in tents, during holidays and Sundays. Third, in the event of necessity, for as long as we stay in non-Catholic lands we beg most humbly to be allowed to eat meat even on days prohibited by the Church when this cannot be avoided. In other words, the Jesuit Priest prepared himself for an existence as a ‘crypto-Catholic’. It is also noteworthy how vaguely he describes the duration and expanse of his expedition: “for several years” (per aliquot annos) and “perhaps through Holland, Belgium, England, France and the entire [Holy Roman] Empire”. Answer from the Holy See reached Father Hell in Danish-ruled Traventhal (not far from Lübeck) on 31 May 1768. The answer as such is not known to have survived. However, Hell’s assistant noted the following sarcasm in the travel diary: 201 Herr Temler delivered to us letters, which he had brought with him from Vienna to Denmark, from Denmark to Holstein, and then hither [to Traventhal]. One 201 Sajnovics’ diary, proofread version (WUS Vienna), entry on 31 May 1768: “D[omi]nus Temler litteras reddidit, Vienna Haffniam, Haffnia in Holsatiam, inde huc a se allatas. quarum aliæ erant à P. Anto: Pilgram, aliæ ex Aula Romana, quibus Facultatem Sanctissimus Noster Clemens XIII impertitur sacrum in portatili Celebrandi, modo in Cubili nemo noctu dormiat. Dispensatio ab Horis Cannonicis, et Abstinentia a carnibus emansit, sine dubio ob malam informationem Pontifici datam. qui si Circumstantias itineris, Viarumque, et Victus rationem, atque fatigiorum magnitudinem vidisset persæpe, non commiseratione solum, sed etiam horrore perfusus, ampliores etiam Dispensationes ultro certe obtulisset. sed nempe Procursionem hanc Recreandi sese et exhilarandi causa Susceptam, et inter amoenos Jtaliæ hortos terminandam autumabat, ita referentibus ijs, quibus referendi negotium erat comissum…” (The “…” are from the original). - 109 -
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Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) and t
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PART II The Eighteenth-Century Tran
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study of the
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Part I INTRODUCTION AND BIOGRAPHICA
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themes with concluding remarks at t
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to take the modern borders as their
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A final ambition of this study is m
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Society of Jesus; 3) He was freed f
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much more cursory, at times even do
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called ‘German Assistancy’, tha
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Kremsmünster Observatory, Father A
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deliver adjustments of the current
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Sven Widmalm investigates the histo
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Lomonosov and Rumovskii. 33 A more
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his entire printed œuvre in additi
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this challenge Pinzger tried to mee
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More recent, source-based contribut
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Pieces for the puzzle of an overall
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comparative perspective is a means
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McClellan maintains that the widesp
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discoveries, the Protestant movemen
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under the name Novi Commentarii) un
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works or not are equally problemati
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The fate of the manuscripts of Maxi
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Saint Petersburg, Anders Planman in
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I.2 MAXIMILIANUS HELL SJ (1720-1792
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stations in his life, information f
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Hell’s journal Ephemerides Astron
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freemasonry, religious toleration a
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family, and adds that he was nation
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Jesuits professors were teaching an
Page 67 and 68: activity until the suppression of t
Page 69 and 70: onibus et problematibus aucta (‘J
Page 71 and 72: Jesuit University in Tyrnavia. 48 T
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Page 75 and 76: etween 1579 and 1606 was re-opened.
Page 77 and 78: from 1780). As for timing, in Janua
Page 79 and 80: the university building. In a lette
Page 81 and 82: This task, to make “daily observa
Page 83 and 84: If Hell edited the official calenda
Page 85 and 86: You spent more of Your time on obse
Page 87 and 88: demonstrate how the Roman-Catholic
Page 89 and 90: Even though electromagnetism in the
Page 91 and 92: international arena. A new importan
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Page 95 and 96: Franz appears to have devoted most
Page 97 and 98: Apart from Halloy, who was born in
Page 99 and 100: attach numerous other observations
Page 101 and 102: The examples of Josephus Mayr and N
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Page 105 and 106: In terms of publicising, there seem
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Page 109 and 110: Hatvani responds a few weeks later
Page 111 and 112: not flourish in Austria. On the con
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Page 115 and 116: to Hell’s role in this context, w
Page 117: The Nordic context of Hell’s invi
Page 121 and 122: Hamburg. From Hamburg, they again c
Page 123 and 124: “my observations, which I have ei
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Page 127 and 128: observatory in Tyrnavia the year af
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Page 137 and 138: FIG.1b - 127 -
Page 139 and 140: FIG. 1d FIG. 1c - 129 -
Page 141 and 142: FIG 2a FIG. 2b - 131 -
Page 143 and 144: edited during these years. What cam
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Page 147 and 148: in keeping with the pro-Hungarian
Page 149 and 150: In Hell’s letters written during
Page 151 and 152: eason as her Prussian counterpart,
Page 153 and 154: was in any case insufficient to fin
Page 155 and 156: Hviid visited Vienna from 27 Octobe
Page 157 and 158: in no small measure thanks to the c
Page 159 and 160: Catholic cities and provinces, at t
Page 161 and 162: Numerous letters from Hell to the b
Page 163 and 164: In preceding sections, it has been
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Page 167 and 168: When in 1775 a collection of essays
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assistants and all the sailors of t
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Maskelyne, upon repeated requests f
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around the mid-eighteenth century.
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Despite radical changes in the inst
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The catalogue of “Jesuiten-Mathem
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At the dawn of the 1770s, the Jesui
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well as Hell’s adjunctus. In Nove
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died in Quinque Ecclesiae. 387 Afte
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However limited evidence we have on
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The above-mentioned damages that ha
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when certain Slovak writers classif
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Ephemerides Astronomicae in all cou
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Part II THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY TRAN
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year. For over a hundred years, his
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mechanics presented later in the sa
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A transit may last for several hour
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FIGURE 4 THE SHIFT OF VENUS‟ PATH
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FIGURE 6 DELISLE‟S METHOD Delisle
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the difference in latitude and long
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equired. In theory, the difference
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A few years after Halley wrote his
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Lalande 1764), 36 9.26″ (Audiffre
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where the senior astronomer Delisle
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Prior to the 1761 transit, Father H
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II.1.4 FATHER HELL ON LESSONS TO BE
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Veneris). The author of this rather
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ecognised as an able observer and c
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This means that the actual number o
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As to the number of individual obse
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TABLE 1 HELL 1761a COMPARED TO WOOL
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II.2 THE NORDIC REGIONS AND THE TRA
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foremost, the history of activities
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analyse the degree of success or fa
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same meridian. For this occasion, W
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than one place in this region. 22 T
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All three observers in Siberia - Ch
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prove insufficient to cover all the
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(1739-1781), covered the eastern an
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proposal of Lomonosov. The chief ar
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II.2.3 THE ROLE OF DENMARK IN THE V
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astronomer among its members and it
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Thus, Kratzenstein expected the Ara
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himself, along with Rødkier, Ahl,
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data published. Hammer‟s manuscri
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provide data of the utmost utility
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Norwegian garrison had been station
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way to Copenhagen. Even before he m
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newspaper article. It is stated, ho
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his destination with the necessary
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men, black slaves among them. 134 B
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eady on a hilltop nearby. The weath
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Kratzenstein has travelled to Trond
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enlarged 150 times. The first conta
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Arguably, these concluding lines ar
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The success was short-lived, howeve
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II.2.5 ASSESSMENT OF VENUS TRANSIT
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emained at a very high level in bot
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path of Venus, in order to mount a
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a number of inaccuracies in his sum
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TABLE 4a OFFICIAL SWEDISH REPORTS O
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II.3 THE ROLE OF FATHER HELL IN THE
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another edition to hand are advised
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In the year 1767, nothing was furth
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Neither claim is entirely correct.
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effectively withdraws the invitatio
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Lalande became one of the Venus-tra
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singled out in several recent works
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As explained in Section II.1.2 abov
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in the ordinary method, stars of no
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1769, Hell speaks of a latitude of
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Incidentally, Hell’s final conclu
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The interior contact of egress is d
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TABLE 5 THE CONTENTS OF THE VARIOUS
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o’clock, as these operations came
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the Supreme Being. I for my part wi
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the official observatory of that ac
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eputation, they had another thing i
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Although the observations of Sajnov
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The review is astonishingly positiv
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moments, as well as the excellent m
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epeated calculations as the various
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the Parallax of the Sun Deduced Fro
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the frequent letters he sent to War
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calculations by Monsieur Lexell and
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The strife ended there, with parall
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TABLE 7 CHRONOLOGY OF PARALLAX CALC
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II.3.5 THE NACHLEBEN OF HELL’S VA
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Upon inspection of the ‘astronomi
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of detecting errors in Littrow’s
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trump card in his hand, for observa
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The next question, concerning the b
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Royale des Sciences (post-revolutio
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Part III EDITIONS OF PRIMARY SOURCE
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apparatus or appendix). Often, as i
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discussions. 3 The main ambition of
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ased on a sort of craving for rules
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etc.; and a if necessary a guide to
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I have designated the texts thus: L
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connoisseurs, which I am going to p
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III.1.3 THE EDITING OF THE UNFINISH
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e listed exhaustively in the appara
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III.2 THE CALL FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS TO
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SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION BY THE NORTH
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The price cannot yet be established
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OVERVIEW OF THE WHOLE WORK 1 entitl
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Chapter IV. The activities in Copen
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Chapter VII. On the transportation
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VOLUME TWO. PHYSICAL. Volume two, p
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PART THREE OF VOLUME TWO. On the ca
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PART FIVE OF VOLUME TWO. Remarks on
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VOLUME THREE. MATHEMATICAL AND ASTR
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PART THREE OF VOLUME THREE. Observa
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III.3 THE UNFINISHED INTRODUCTION T
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Part One A diary of the entire Scie
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Accordingly, the minds of astronome
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extremes in the duration — in oth
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For he 1 had been made to understan
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famous Mister Lexell, a[nother] son
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aware that the sites of observation
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1769 (a.). However, among the highl
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the transit would be located in the
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Dixon were chosen for this mission
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and astronomers recounted so far, d
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For as it later emerged, the Divine
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they decided to suggest to, and ind
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sited by the Arctic sea, to become
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As I rolled over in my mind these a
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to Her Highness the Empress, asking
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I should choose; this needed to be
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he was already a famous and well kn
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SUMMARY AND REFERENCES
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eceived increasing support in Centr
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items published before the year 180
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econstruct lost parts of their corr
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UNPRINTED SOURCES AND LITERATURE, 1
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Vardø 15 Jan 1769 MERCIER (Copenha
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Vienna 25 Mar ’80 J. BERNOULLI (B
Page 443 and 444:
Page 445 and 446:
FIXLMILLNER Cremif. [Mar-July 1783]
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(measurements of the magnetic decli
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MS, Excerpts from the works “Saxo
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Page 453 and 454:
MS, [no heading] “Acceptis recent
Page 455 and 456:
[Anonymous] 1767: “Transitus Vene
Page 457 and 458:
1768: Voyage en Sibérie, fait par
Page 459 and 460:
1761b: Elementa Arithmeticæ Numeri
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übersetzt, Dritter Band, pp. 171-3
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Kratzenstein, Christian Gottlieb 17
Page 465 and 466:
Maskelyne, Nevil 1762: “An Accoun
Page 467 and 468:
1774: “Förklaring På de Formler
Page 469 and 470:
Trebuchet, Claude-Étienne 1766:
Page 471 and 472:
2011a: “Nordiske amatørastronome
Page 473 and 474:
Bennett, Jim 2002: “The travels a
Page 475 and 476:
Bursill-Hall, Piers (ed.) 1993: R.
Page 477 and 478:
Duhr, Bernhard 1892: Jesuiten-Fabel
Page 479 and 480:
Firneis, Maria G. & Franz Kerschbau
Page 481 and 482:
Harbsmeier, Michael 2003: “Indled
Page 483 and 484:
Hundrup, F. E. 1854: Biographiske e
Page 485 and 486:
Kragemo, Helge (Bergh) 1933: “Pat
Page 487 and 488:
Ludwig, Walther 1997: “Die neuzei
Page 489 and 490:
Nordenmark, N. V. E. 1939: Pehr Wil
Page 491 and 492:
2006: “Sverige, vetenskapen och P
Page 493 and 494:
Sajnovics, Johannes (Joannes, Johan
Page 495 and 496:
Smagina, Galina Ivanovna 2007: “P
Page 497 and 498:
Tibenský, Ján 1970: “Pokusy o o
Page 499 and 500:
Vorontsov-Vel’yaminov, Boris A. 1
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ISBN xxx-xx-xxxx-xxx-x
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