Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

Nova, published in 1776, Hell refers to the theories and observations of a wide range of
authors, but avoids mentioning that the famous Boscovich had treated the phenomenon in
several works. 18 Boscovich’ silence on Hell’s De Satellite Veneris was thus ‘echoed’ by Hell
on that occasion. All this can be taken as strong indication, albeit not as definite proof, that
Maximilianus Hell can hardly have been on top of Father Boscovich’s list when he searched
for a companion for his expedition.
Further evidence is found in a selection of Boscovich’s correspondence that was published by
Rita Tolomeo in 1992. Among these letters, there is a section of 28 letters relating to the plans
for the Baja California expedition, dating from May 1766 to July 1767. Interestingly,
Maximilianus Hell is not mentioned by name in any of these letters. 19 Instead, it emerges that
the head of the Jesuit observatory in Vienna, Josephus Liesganig was invited by Boscovich to
be his travel companion. Liesganig failed, however, to obtain permission to participate in the
expedition from the Habsburg chancellor Kaunitz, who moreover was reluctant to grant
Boscovich the necessary leave from his position in Pavia. 20 Boscovich then turned to the
Jesuit Christianus Mayer, court astronomer of Mannheim and – like himself – a fellow of the
Royal Society of London, asking him to join in the expedition instead of Liesganig. 21 The
abolition of the Jesuits from Spain and all her colonies in April 1767 brought an end to these
plans, and in a letter to Boscovich dated 12 May 1767, the president of the Royal Society
18 Hell, Aurorae Borealis Theoria Nova … 1776. Boscovich is known to have published works on the Aurora
Borealis in 1738 (De Aurora Boreali, anonymous dissertation published twice in the same year, Rome), 1747
(Caroli Noceti e Societate Jesu. De Iride et Aurora boreali Carmina Illustrissimo ac Reverendissimo Praesuli
Bernardino Giruadio dicata. Cum Notis Josephi Rogerii Boscovich ex eadem Societate, Rome), 1748 (“Dialoghi
sull’aurora boreale del P. Ruggiero Boscovich della Compagnia di Gesù lettore di Matematica nel Collegio
Romano”, in Giornale de’ Letterati per l’anno 1748, pp. 192-202, 264-275, 293-302, 239-336, 363-368; also
published as a separate booklet) and 1760 (Philosophiae recentioris a Benedicto Stay in Rom[ano] Archigymn[asio]
Eloquentiae Profess[ore] versibus traditae Libri X, ad Sylvium Valentium Cardinalem amplissimum,
cum adnotationibus, et Supplementis P. Rogerii Josephi Boscovich S.J. in Collegio Rom[ano] Publ[ico]
Matheseos Professore Tomus II, Rome); cf. e.g. Tolomeo 1992, pp. 13-14; Lisac & Marki 1998, pp. 54-55; and
the online inventory http://www.brera.inaf.it/boscovich/progetto-sito/opere_a_stampa.pdf (accessed 30 October
2008).
19 See Tolomeo 1992, section on “Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich: Carteggio con corrispondenti diversi su
un’ipotesi di viaggio in California (1766-1767)”, pp. 281-386; cf. pp. 29-35 & 355-358.
20 After nearly three months of lobbying, Liesganig in a letter to Boscovich in Pavia, dated Vienna 26 February
1767, finally found himself forced to say “adieu Amerique!” (printed in Tolomeo 1992, pp. 311-312).
21 See the letter from Boscovich to Morton in London, un-dated but probably – to judge from Morton’s answer
of 12 May 1767 – dated 22 April 1767 (printed in Tolomeo 1992, pp. 319-320; cf. p. 321). Chr. Mayer mentions
plans to accompany Boscovich on this expedition in his long treatise on the Venus transit (Mayer 1769b, p. 84):
“deserta America, quo ab hinc biennio cum celebri P. BOSCOWICH, sumptibus Societatis Regiae Anglicanae
[…] abire debebam, me in hanc vrbem appulisse” = “… that I, having quitted America, which I two years ago,
financed by the Royal Society of England, was supposed to travel to, instead arrived in this city [i.e. St.
Petersburg]”.
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