Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

McClellan maintains that the widespread use of ‘corresponding members’ and regular
exchange of proceedings and other scientific publications contributed to binding the savants
together, even formally, in a real ‘Republic of Letters’. Without the truly international
networks provided by the academies and societies of science, McClellan seems to suggest, the
Venus transit projects of the 1760s could never have taken place. 67 On the other hand, he
concludes that the national or regional element of these early-modern institutions was equally
important, as seen in the emphasis placed on gaining recognition from the state or ruler in
whose territory the institution flourished, represented by titles such as “Royal Society”,
“Imperial Academy” and the like. Official support of this kind hardly emanated from some
sort of pan-European solidarity; quite the contrary, in fact. Instead, the academies and
societies won the support of their sovereigns by appealing to the public benefits – economic,
cultural, etc. – that were likely flow forth from their activities. For all their similarities, then,
the European academies and societies of science were primarily geographically restricted
phenomena that grew out of various national, local or even confessional realities – the
Republic of Letters was hardly a prime reason for their existence. At best, it was a side-effect
of their endeavours, McClellan argues. 68
McClellan could not have arrived at his conclusions without employing a comparative, pan-
European perspective and crossing linguistic barriers in his own investigations of the subject.
In this respect, Sörlin, McClellan and other leading historians of science are not characteristic
representatives of history as an academic discipline whose performers tend to investigate the
past of individual nations rather than clusters of nations. Returning to Professor Fox’ above-
mentioned article, this was originally delivered as a paper at a gathering of the European
Society for the History of Science, of which Fox is a founding father. The linguistic,
ideological and historiographical traditions of the various countries of Europe constitute
barriers that Fox and other historians of science are continuously struggling to overcome. It is
an aim of this study to make a small contribution in precisely that direction.
There are, in my view, good reasons to treat Maximilianus Hell as a representative of the
European Republic of Letters. First, he was an astronomer, and astronomy as such was – as
67 McClellan 1993, espec. pp. 156-158.
68 McClellan 1993, espec. pp. 159-165, with its series of poignant sentences: “Creations de l’État et des
gouvernement, les académies furent moins ‘d’Europe’ que ‘des nations de l’Europe’” (p. 160); “Dans une
histoire complète et analytique des académies d’Europe, la République des Lettres semble si diversifiée qu’il
n’en reste pas grand chose” (p. 163); etc.
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