ACADEMIES AND
LEARNED SOCIETIES
92
Accadèmia del Cimento, Florence
Saggi di naturali esperienze
Florence: Giovanni Filippo Cecchi, 1691
The establishment of learned societies was a major force in the
cultivation of the new learning and the dissemination of scientific
methods. The Accadèmia del Cimento, founded in 1657 by the
Grand Dukes Ferdinand II and Leopold of Florence, represented a
direct challenge to the deductive methods of contemporary science.
The Saggi di naturali esperienze, first published by the
Accadèmia del Cimento in 1667, is among the earliest
examples of pure experimental reporting in the history of science.
Equipped with what was essentially the first physical laboratory in
Europe, the Accadèmia pursued the experimental development
of the scientific ideas of Galileo (1564 1642) and his
students Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647) and Vincenzo Viviani
(1621-1703). The efforts of the Accadèmia del Cimento had a
great influence on the growth of experimental science elsewhere and
created new confidence in methods initiated by Galileo.
93
Académie Royale des Sciences, Paris
Mémoires de l Académie Royale des
Sciences,
depuis 1666 jusqu'à 1699
Paris: Par la compagnie des libraires, 1729-1734
Eleven volumes
The Académie Royale des Sciences, founded in 1666 by
Louis XIV, continued to develop the strong experimental emphases of
earlier French scientific societies. Sustained by royal funding,
the goals of the Académie were to examine the latest
inventions and to conduct a wide range of experiments. With the
finest observatory in Europe at their disposal, the astronomers
made several important discoveries; Ole Römer (1644
1710), for example, correctly deduced the finite speed of light
from his observations of the planet Jupiter. Following a brief
period of decline, the Académie was reconstituted in 1699
and, subsequently, issued the Mémoires, or
proceedings of its meetings, including unpublished records of
sessions held from 1666 1699. Until its suppression in 1793,
the Académie Royale des Sciences, whose members included
Buffon, d'Alembert, and Lavoisier, was a major force in the growth
of scientific inquiry and experimentation.
94
Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin
Histoire de l Académie Royale
des Sciences et Belles-Lettres
Berlin: Chez Haude et Spener, 1746-1771
Twenty-five volumes
The Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften at Berlin began as
the Societas Regia Scientiarum. Constituted in 1700 by
Frederick I, elector of Brandenburg and first king of Prussia, the
Societas followed the comprehensive plan of the renowned
polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1647-1716). In his devotion to
science and to Germany, Leibniz realized that a national scientific
academy was a necessary instrument of the modern state, since
through it scientific knowledge could be used for the public good.
Leibniz further understood that an institution comparable to those
in England and France could help restore Germany's leadership in
such practical sciences as mining, chemistry, and horology. The
Akademie began publication of its transactions in 1710. Over the
years contributors included celebrated scholars such as Bopp,
Euler, the two Humboldts, and the brothers Grimm.
95
Imperatorskaya Academiya nauk, Petrograd
Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum
Imperialis Petropolitanae
St. Petersburg: Typis academiae, 1728 1751
Fourteen volumes
Shortly before his death in 1724, Peter the Great sought out the
advice of Leibniz and Wolff on the formation of a scientific
academy based on German and French models. His successor, Catherine
I (1683? 1727), formally established the Imperatorskaya
Akademiya nauk on December 21, 1725. Under Catherine II
(1729-1796), the Akademiya played a major role in the advancement
of national culture, as the empress dispatched teams of scholars to
investigate the topography, geography, natural resources, and
history of her vast domain. Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum
Imperialis Petropolitanae was first published in 1728.
Included in volume five, covering the years 1730-1731, are
monographs on mechanics, mathematics, chemistry, and ancient
history.
96
Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta
Asiatick Researches;
or, Transactions of the Society
Calcutta; Manuel Cantopher, 1788-1839
Twenty volumes
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The Asiatic Society of Bengal, founded by the renowned English jurist and Orientalist Sir William Jones (1746 1794) in 1784 under the auspices of Governor-general Warren Hastings (1732 1818), served to kindle an "Oriental renaissance" in Europe during the nineteenth century. By bringing Asian languages, literature, arts, and sciences to the attention of Europeans, the members of the Asiatic Society of Bengal helped to generate a host of comparative disciplines in the areas of philology, religion, mythology, folklore, law, and anthropology. Jones, an extraordinary linguist possessing knowledge of over forty languages, was among the first European scholars to recognize the common ancestry of Sanskrit with Greek, Latin, and other European languages. Commenting on the classical language of India, he praised its "wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either." Among the articles found in the premier issue of Asiatick Researches are "On the Orthography of Asiatick Words," "An Interview with the Young Lama," "On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India," and "On Extracting the Essential Oil of Roses."
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