Category Archives: 18th Century

Jesuits: Savants

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article (book chapter) 46 pages Level: university This article by Mordechai Feingold is the introductory chapter to the 2003 book Jesuit Science and the Republic of Letters, edited by Feingold and published by The MIT Press. Feingold provides an overview of Jesuit scientists and of the advantages and disadvantages (from a scientific point of view) of doing science within the Jesuit order—an organization whose mission was not scientific but spiritual. Feingold writes: The aim of this introductory chapter is to get past the stereotypes that surrounded the Society of Jesus during the first 200 years of its existence and evaluate the scientific dimension of its intellectual contribution, independent of its religious mission. It is my contention that, by and large, the scholarly activities and aspirations of Jesuits were indistinguishable from those of other contemporary savants, secular or ordained, irrespective of denomination. True, constraints on the pursuit of secular learning were more stringent among Jesuits, as were the mechanisms regulating their … Continue reading →

The Madras Observatory: from Jesuit cooperation to British rule

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 1000 words Level: all audiences An article published in Aeon in 2017 by Blake Smith, a PhD candidate in history at Northwestern University in Illinois and the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris. Click here to access this article directly from Aeon. The Madras Observatory offers little to the visitor’s eye. Stone slabs and broken pillars lie ignored in a fenced-off section of a local weather centre in the southern Indian city of Chennai. Few tourists venture out to see the ruins of the 18th-century complex. On the other side of the subcontinent, in northern Indian cities such as New Delhi, Varanasi and Jaipur, remains of the Jantar Mantars, vast astronomical stations, are far more popular attractions. Built in the same century as the Madras Observatory, their stark geometric structures, with looming proportions and vibrant colours, make for mandatory stops on travellers’ itineraries. Yet it is the Madras Observatory, and not the spectacular Jantar Mantars, … Continue reading →

Boscovich, the discovery of Uranus and his inclination to theoretical astronomy

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 8 pages Level: university A 2013 article by L. Guzzardi, published in Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana Supplement, concerning the 18th-century Jesuit astronomer Roger Boscovich: Abstract: On March 13th 1781 Frederick William Herschel observed a bizarre celestial body moving in the sky. Retrospectively, that astral body was not at all new at that point. It was observed by a number of astronomers since the end of 17th century (and maybe earlier). But they failed to find out its motion and catalogued it as a fixed star – each time a different one. On the other hand, Herschel realized it was moving, and catalogued it as a comet. That news of a new finding in the sky rapidly spread throughout Europe, and after some months the `Herschel’s comet’ was correctly recognized as a new planet, which will be named Uranus. The present paper assumes the event of the discovery of Uranus and the assessment of its planetary nature as a system … Continue reading →

Boscovich – his geodetic and cartographic studies

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 8 pages Level: high school and above A heavily illustrated 2013 article by B. Crippa, V. Forcella, and L. Mussio, published in Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana Supplement, concerning the 18th-century Jesuit astronomer Roger Boscovich: Abstract: The name of Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich has many spellings: the Croatian Boscovič, linked to his Dalmatian origin, becomes Boscowich in German. Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich lived and worked in many cities: Rome, Pavia, Venice, Paris, London, Warsaw, Saint Petersburg and Constantinople, where he carried out diplomatic missions. He was a Jesuit and studied mathematics, physics, astronomy, geodesy, and cartography. His studies in geodesy and cartography were developed in Italy: he measured the meridian between Rome and Rimini, he worked on the new map of the Papal State and he designed the Brera Observatory. In the first part of the present work, we present Boscovich’s activities from a chronological point of view. In the second part, we focus on two specific arguments, related to geodesy and cartography: the new … Continue reading →

Accuracy of Solar Eclipse Observations Made by Jesuit Astronomers in China

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 10 pages Level: university A 1995 Journal for the History of Astronomy article by F. R. Stephenson and L. J. Fatoohi: Abstract: During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Jesuit astronomers at the Chinese court in Beijing observed many eclipses of the Sun and Moon. For most of these events the times of beginning, middle and end were measured and the magnitudes estimated. Summaries of virtually all of the observation made between A.D. 1644 and 1785 are still preserved. In this paper, that various solar eclipse measurements that the Jesuits made during the period are compared with computation based on modern solar and lunar ephemerides. Click here to access this article via NASA ADS. Click here to download a PDF of this article from NASA ADS.  

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Jesuit Astronomers in Beijing 1601-1805

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 16 pages Level: university This 1994 article by Agustín Udías in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society provides an overview of two hundred years of astronomical and Jesuit history in China: Abstract: Jesuit astronomers worked in Beijing for almost 200 years from 1601 to 1805 and occupied posts as directors of the Astronomical Observatory and presidents of the Board of Astronomy. During this time, they carried out an unprecedented transfer of scientific knowledge between Europe and China, especially in the fields of astronomy and mathematics. They took advantage of the need to reform the calendar to introduce western astronomy to China. They built astronomical instruments, brought European astronomical tables and made an extensive programme of observations. The work, in particular, of Ricci, Schall, Verbiest, Kogler and Hallerstein highlights this story. Click here to access this article from NASA ADS. Click here to download a PDF of this article from NASA ADS.  

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Boscovich and the Brera Observatory

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Article 10 pages Level: university A 2013 article by Elio Antonello of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera in Italy, published in Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana Supplement, concerning the 18th-century Jesuit astronomer Roger Boscovich: Abstract: In the mid 18th century both theoretical and practical astronomy were cultivated in Milan by Barnabites and Jesuits. In 1763 Boscovich was appointed to the chair of mathematics of the University of Pavia in the Duchy of Milan, and the following year he designed an observatory for the Jesuit Collegium of Brera in Milan. The Specola was built in 1765 and it became quickly one of the main european observatories. We discuss the relation between Boscovich and Brera in the framework of a short biography. An account is given of the initial research activity in the Specola, of the departure of Boscovich from Milan in 1773 and his coming back just before his death. Click here for this article from NASA … Continue reading →

Isaac Newton – Two books relating to religion

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Books (two) 376 pages; Level: university Isaac Newton, one of the most prominent scientific figures in history, is often said to have written more about theology than about mathematics and physics. However, his views on the nature of God were unorthodox, and much of what he wrote regarding matters relating to religion was never published. However, his Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms was published in 1728.  It contains material such as Newton’s diagram of the Temple of Solomon, shown here.  Newton’s Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John, was published posthumously in 1733 and is another example of Newton’s writing on matters relating to religion. Click here for Chronology, courtesy of Erara. Click here for Observations, courtesy of Archive.org  

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Isaac Newton – God and the Universe in the ‘General Scholium’ of the Principia

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Book chapter 5 pages Level: university Isaac Newton is arguably the most important scientist of all. His Principia Mathematica (written in Latin, and first published in 1687), in which he develops a physics of the solar system to compete with the “vortex theory” of René Descartes, is arguably his most important work, for it developed the physics still taught in classrooms and used in science and engineering today. Newton sees in this physics and in the solar system the action of God. Newton is often said to have written more about theology than about mathematics and physics, although his views on the nature of God were unorthodox and much of what he wrote regarding matters relating to religion was never published. From the ‘General Scholium’: This most beautiful System of the Sun, Planets, and Comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. And if the fixed Stars are the centers of other like systems, … Continue reading →

George Berkeley – The Analyst; The Defence of Free-Thinking in Mathematics

Vatican Observatory Foundation Faith and Science

Books (two) 94 pages; 70 pages Level: university George Berkeley’s 1734 The Analyst; or, A Discourse Addressed to an Infidel Mathematician criticizes how mathematicians thought regarding the “Method of Fluxions” (in modern terms, “Calculus”) of Isaac Newton, especially when some of those mathematicians were “infidels” (atheists) who criticized theological thought. Thus the title page of The Analyst quotes the Book of Matthew: “First cast out the beam out of thine own Eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye [7:5, KJV].” Berkeley, a bishop in the Church of Ireland, acknowledges that Fluxions is “the general Key, by help whereof the modern Mathematicians unlock the secrets of Geometry, and consequently of Nature…. [and] that which hath enabled them so remarkably to outgo the Ancients in discovering Theorems and solving Problems….” However, Fluxions relies on concepts of infinity, applied repeatedly, and “to conceive a Quantity infinitely small… is, I confess, above my Capacity. … Continue reading →