Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

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time largely inaccessible to western scholars. Furthermore, the available historiography was mainly available in Russian only, whereas the principal primary sources were either in Latin, Russian or German. Turning to Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, the western historian was faced with the challenge of sources and secondary literature in the Scandinavian languages in addition to Latin and German. None of the languages mentioned seem to have been understood, or at least read to any large extent, by either Woolf or subsequent Anglo- and Francophone Venus transit historians. There appears to be a need for a comparative study, placing the Venus transit activities in Nordic and Central Europe in perspective. No downgrade of the ground-breaking achievement of Harry Woolf is called for. Rather, one should attempt to shift the focus away from those Great Powers of European intellectual history for a while, without forgetting that they were precisely that. By reading texts in other languages than French and English and by tracing activities in other centres of learning besides the Académie Royale des Sciences of Paris and the Royal Society of London, we might arrive at a more nuanced and truly ‘global’ vision of the history of the eighteenth-century transits of Venus. At least that is the aim of part II of this thesis. I.1.1.4 STUDIES OF THE LIFE AND CAREER OF MAXIMILIANUS HELL The life and career of Maximilianus Hell fills a long chapter in this thesis (I.2), with its own historiographical remarks. Here, only a few strains in the predominant depictions of his career will be sketched out. An apologetic Hungarian-Jesuit strain, as represented by Ferenc Pinzger, will be described first. Then follow the contributions of the USA-based historian of science George Sarton, the Dane Axel V. Nielsen, the Norwegian Helge Kragemo, and – far more cursory – a selection of Austrian, Slovak, Hungarian, German, Hungarian and Romanian contributions. A fundamental, source-based study of Hell’s biography was undertaken by a Hungarian Jesuit by the name Ferenc Pinzger, teacher at the High School in Pécs, in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The main result of his study was published by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences as Hell Miksa Emlékezete (‘In Memory of Maximilianus Hell’), in two volumes, 1920-1927. The first volume, which is entirely in Hungarian (apart from quotations in other languages), treats Hell’s career with special emphasis on the Vardø expedition, drawing upon - 22 -
his entire printed œuvre in addition to letters and other manuscript sources preserved in official archives in Vienna, Copenhagen and Budapest, as well as in the monasteries of Kremsmünster and Pannonhalma. The second volume presents transcriptions from altogether 74 letters in Latin, German and French accompanied by extracts from the Latin travel diary that Hell’s assistant Joannes Sajnovics kept during the Vardø expedition. There is also a German summary at the end of that volume. The manuscripts edited by Pinzger illustrate the many-sided research interests of Father Hell and offer glimpses of his close collaboration (in the form of frequent correspondence) with leading astronomers in various parts of the Habsburg Empire, Denmark-Norway and France. Pinzger’s depiction of Hell’s scientific career is, however, firmly rooted in what we might call an apologetic or even hagiographic tradition. His work indeed constitutes, from beginning to end, a passionate vindication of Father Hell. Thus, Pinzger claims to have found “modesty, steadfastness in trouble, well-doing” to be characteristic traits of the personality of his biographee, and adds to this his “love of his country”. 36 Furthermore, Hell’s many-sided scientific theories and experiments are extolled as ingenious and ahead of their time, even in cases where leading scientists of Pinzger’s own generation had arrived at contradictory results. 37 Such a line of argument might seem rather odd today, but it no doubt reflects Pinzger’s background both as a Jesuit and a Hungarian. The nineteenth century has been described as “the golden age of literary Jesuitphobia”, involving politicians, historians and littérateurs in most countries of Europe. 38 In order to remedy this situation, Jesuits of the ‘New Society’ (that is, the restored Society of Jesus in existence since 1814) began publishing original documents, bibliographies, biographical studies and other genres of historical writings covering all epochs of the history of the ‘Old Society’. The biography of Pinzger clearly belongs to this process of vindication. His work was furthermore undertaken in an age still characterised by nationalistic historiography in 36 Pinzger 1927, Deutsche Zusammenfassung, pp. 10-11: “Bescheidenheit, Standhaftigkeit in Schwierigkeiten, Wohltätigkeit waren in der Tat seine charakteristischen Eigenschaften […]”. And: “Wir könnten noch einen Charakterzug Hells erwähnen […], und das ist seine Vaterlandsliebe”. 37 Witness for example his remarks on Hell’s ‘New Theory of the Northern Light’ (Hell 1776) in the German summary, Pinzger 1927, pp. 19-21. 38 See John W. O’Malley’s invaluable article “The Historiography of the Society of Jesus” in The Jesuits (1999), where he quotes Michel Leroy and Jean Lacouture for the tag Jésuitophobie (O’Malley 1999, p. 11). - 23 -
Page 3: Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) and t
Page 6 and 7: PART II The Eighteenth-Century Tran
Page 8 and 9: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study of the
Page 11 and 12: Part I INTRODUCTION AND BIOGRAPHICA
Page 13 and 14: themes with concluding remarks at t
Page 15 and 16: to take the modern borders as their
Page 17 and 18: A final ambition of this study is m
Page 19 and 20: Society of Jesus; 3) He was freed f
Page 21 and 22: much more cursory, at times even do
Page 23 and 24: called ‘German Assistancy’, tha
Page 25 and 26: Kremsmünster Observatory, Father A
Page 27 and 28: deliver adjustments of the current
Page 29 and 30: Sven Widmalm investigates the histo
Page 31: Lomonosov and Rumovskii. 33 A more
Page 35 and 36: this challenge Pinzger tried to mee
Page 37 and 38: More recent, source-based contribut
Page 39 and 40: Pieces for the puzzle of an overall
Page 41 and 42: comparative perspective is a means
Page 43 and 44: McClellan maintains that the widesp
Page 45 and 46: discoveries, the Protestant movemen
Page 47 and 48: under the name Novi Commentarii) un
Page 49 and 50: works or not are equally problemati
Page 51 and 52: The fate of the manuscripts of Maxi
Page 53 and 54: Saint Petersburg, Anders Planman in
Page 55 and 56: I.2 MAXIMILIANUS HELL SJ (1720-1792
Page 57 and 58: stations in his life, information f
Page 59 and 60: Hell’s journal Ephemerides Astron
Page 61 and 62: freemasonry, religious toleration a
Page 63 and 64: family, and adds that he was nation
Page 65 and 66: 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
Page 73 and 74: - 63 -
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
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If Hell edited the official calenda
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You spent more of Your time on obse
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demonstrate how the Roman-Catholic
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Even though electromagnetism in the
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international arena. A new importan
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- 83 -
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Franz appears to have devoted most
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Apart from Halloy, who was born in
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attach numerous other observations
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The examples of Josephus Mayr and N
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Collegii Academici Societatis Jesu
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In terms of publicising, there seem
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the Kingdom of Hungary until the la
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Hatvani responds a few weeks later
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not flourish in Austria. On the con
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textbooks in architecture in Latin
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to Hell’s role in this context, w
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The Nordic context of Hell’s invi
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long time because of astronomical o
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Hamburg. From Hamburg, they again c
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“my observations, which I have ei
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Pole” must designate something el
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observatory in Tyrnavia the year af
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his mentor with having been so “t
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esponsible for church services in t
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civilisation. In this situation, He
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FIG. 1a - 125 -
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FIG.1b - 127 -
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FIG. 1d FIG. 1c - 129 -
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FIG 2a FIG. 2b - 131 -
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edited during these years. What cam
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Society of Sciences in the same yea
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in keeping with the pro-Hungarian
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In Hell’s letters written during
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eason as her Prussian counterpart,
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was in any case insufficient to fin
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Hviid visited Vienna from 27 Octobe
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in no small measure thanks to the c
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Catholic cities and provinces, at t
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Numerous letters from Hell to the b
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In preceding sections, it has been
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estore the studies at the universit
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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
Page 301 and 302:
singled out in several recent works
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As explained in Section II.1.2 abov
Page 305 and 306:
in the ordinary method, stars of no
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1769, Hell speaks of a latitude of
Page 309 and 310:
Incidentally, Hell’s final conclu
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The interior contact of egress is d
Page 313 and 314:
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
Page 333 and 334:
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
Page 347 and 348:
trump card in his hand, for observa
Page 349 and 350:
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
Page 359 and 360:
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
Page 365 and 366:
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
Page 373 and 374:
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
Page 385 and 386:
PART THREE OF VOLUME TWO. On the ca
Page 387 and 388:
PART FIVE OF VOLUME TWO. Remarks on
Page 389 and 390:
VOLUME THREE. MATHEMATICAL AND ASTR
Page 391 and 392:
PART THREE OF VOLUME THREE. Observa
Page 393 and 394:
III.3 THE UNFINISHED INTRODUCTION T
Page 395 and 396:
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
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[Anonymous] 1767: “Transitus Vene
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1768: Voyage en Sibérie, fait par
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1761b: Elementa Arithmeticæ Numeri
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übersetzt, Dritter Band, pp. 171-3
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Kratzenstein, Christian Gottlieb 17
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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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Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

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