Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

II.2.2 THE ROLE OF RUSSIA IN THE VENUS TRANSIT PROJECTS,
1761 AND 1769
In 1761, Russian activity was limited. Several studies have pointed out that this period was
marked by conflicts within the Academy between Russian-speaking and foreign (mainly
German-speaking) members. 28 Initially, the Imperial Russian Academy‟s plans for the 1761
transit included only a single Venus transit expedition, which was to be dispatched to Siberia.
Doubts were raised, however, as to whether the Academy actually had any qualified observers
to hand for this task. Archival studies by Michel Mervaud and others have disclosed that early
in 1760, these doubts were voiced in a letter from Gerhard Friedrich Müller (1705-1783), a
historian/ethnographer and prominent member of the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg, to
the astronomer Lacaille, a no less prominent member of the Royal Academy in Paris. 29 The
academicians in Paris apparently interpreted this as an implicit request for them to send
someone to Russia and appointed an assistant at the Observatoire Royal, Jean Chappe
d‟Auteroche (also called l‟Abbé Chappe, 1728-1769) to this task. His destination was to be
Tobolsk, the chief city of Siberia, situated just east of the Ural Mountains. When the members
of the St. Petersburg Academy learned of the plans of their French counterparts, protests were
raised, but too late to prevent the arrival of Chappe. 30 Therefore, in characteristically patriotic
spirit, the academician Mikhail Vasil‟evich Lomonosov (1711–1765) argued in
November 1760 that not just one but two Russian astronomers should be sent to Siberia. As
he saw it, the Professor of Astronomy Nikita Ivanovich Popov (1720-1782) and his adjunct
Stepan Iakovlevich Rumovskii (1734-1812) would be the ideal candidates for these
expeditions, although he admitted doubts as to whether the latter would be able to acquire the
necessary astronomical practice to be really qualified to observe the transit in the space of just
six months. 31 Nevertheless, to Lomonosov and other patriots at the Academy it was evidently
important to engage their own astronomers in the project, for the sake of national pride.
Anyhow, the suggestion of Lomonosov was followed and Rumovskii and Popov dispatched
to Siberia in early 1761.
28 The hostility of the eminent polymath – poet, historian, grammarian, physicist and astronomer – Mikhail
Lomonosov towards foreign academicians appears to have been particularly strong: cf. e.g. Snorrason 1974, pp.
78-79; Schulze 1985; Dulac 2000, p. 261; Comtet 2001; Mervaud 2004, pp. 8-9. Among the 111 full members of
the Imperial Academy during the eighteenth century, only 26 were of Russian descent – the rest came from
German states (55 in all), Switzerland (7), Sweden (4) and France (4); cf. Moutchnik 2006, p. 210. Although full
membership was granted to some Russians, their salaries were generally lower than those of the foreign
members: cf. Schulze 1985, pp. 315-316; Snorrason 1974, p. 79.
29 Mervaud 2004, p. 7. In a letter that reached St. Petersburg in January 1760, Lacaille had informed the Imperial
Academy of French plans for the Venus transit (Lomonosov 1955, vol. IX, p. 793).
30 See for example Lomonosov in Kravets & Chenakal (eds.) 1955b, p. 794.
31 Mervaud 2004, p. 9.
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