Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

Lomonosov and Rumovskii. 33 A more balanced picture is drawn in other general works, such
as the brilliant Russia in the Age of Enlightenment by Erich Donnert (1986), although the
Venus transits are not treated at any length in that book.
Thus, ‘big histories’ covering the history of astronomy or general science in specific countries
are indeed helpful. For more empirically detailed accounts, however, it is necessary to turn to
other kinds of scholarly works. In-depth studies of individual savants count among these.
Again, I cannot claim to have grasped anything near the full picture of what is at hand, and
shall have to limit myself to a few works that have proven themselves especially valuable.
These are Nils Victor Emanuel Nordenmark’s biography of the above-mentioned Pehr
Wilhelm Wargentin (in Swedish, 1939); Michel Mervaud’s introduction to his edition of
Chappe d’Auteroche’s Voyage en Sibérie (in French, 2004); Georges Dulac’s article on
Johann Albrecht Euler’s period as secretary of the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg (in
French, 2000); and Alexander Moutchnik’s doctoral thesis on the Jesuit Christianus Mayer,
who visited St Petersburg in 1769 (in German, 2006). In sum, these studies provide a good
framework for a clearer understanding of the degree of integration of Nordic scientific
milieux in the international Venus transit projects of the 1760s.
With the exception of a recent article in Norwegian by the author of this thesis, 34 no
comparative analysis of Venus transit activities in the Nordic countries has been made until
now. Studies of the history of science in the region in question tend to focus on a single
country and its relations with major European powers, not to engage in inter-Nordic
comparison. 35 As I shall argue, the Venus transit campaigns appear to be highly suitable for
precisely that comparative approach.
Chapter II.2 will outline in detail the shortcomings of the predominant historiography of the
transits of Venus as far as the Nordic countries are concerned. It would be harsh to blame
Harry Woolf and other historians from the Cold War era for their limited knowledge of the
history of Nordic science. As for Russia, the archives held by the Soviet Union were at that
33
See Ostrovitianov (ed.) 1958, espec. pp. 220-221 & 357-362. I am indebted to Kari Aga Myklebost for
translating this and other Russian texts for me. As for the peculiar blending of nationalism with communist
ideology in Stalinist historiography of science, see for example Kragh 1987, p. 110 (with references).
34
Aspaas, ‘The Contributions of Nordic Amateur Astronomers to the Venus Transit Projects of 1761 and 1769’
(in Norwegian) 2011a.
35
In addition to Pihlaja 2009 on Sweden vis-à-vis France and Persson 2009 on Sweden vis-à-vis Germany, one
might mention a range of similar studies for Russian relations with the West in the Enlightenment period. To
quote but one, the set of articles edited by Conrad Grau et al. 1997 contains many fine examples.
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