Page - 102 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

Chapter 2102 demonstrates that scientific correspondence with all major international ob- servatories was soon by and large established. As the case of Paris illustrates, the Ephemerides seems in most cases to have functioned as a door-opener. In the autumn of 1757, two Jesuit astronomers, the above-mentioned Christian Mayer of Heidelberg and Franz Huberti (1715–89) of Würzburg, traveled to Paris to visit its main scientific institutions. Huberti brought with him a copy of the Ephemerides to show to the astronomers of Paris, and in a letter to Hell dated October 3, 1757 he described their reaction as follows: Upon order from my Mæcenas, His most Honorable and Eminent Prin- ceps [i.e., the prince-bishop, Fürstbischof] of Würzburg, I have found myself under obligation to go to Paris, despite my wish to pay Vienna another visit. I showed your Ephemerides, which I had brought with me, to the astronomers of Paris. It was pleasant so see how they at first sight raised their eyebrows, but soon praised the great industry of the calcula- tions and immediately asked me to provide a copy for them from Ger- many. Only Delisle, a man who is advancing his old age, very favorable to our Society and thoroughly outspoken, added that he had great respect for your calculations, but would have preferred that you spent more of your time on observations than on calculations. I answered that you would not take a rest from the task of making observations either.41 Arguably, the main achievement of Hell was indeed the Ephemerides ad me- ridianum Vindobonensem, the first volume of which covered the year 1757 and which continued until 1806 (published 1805). In 1760, without revision of con- tents or layout, it was renamed the Ephemerides astronomicae ad meridianum Vindobonensem, a name it retained until the very end. This periodical not only contained tables of the rising and setting of the Sun and other standard con- tents of astronomical almanacs; it also included observation data collected from an ever-widening range of locations, as well as articles and treatises on various scientific subjects as appendices.42 The significance and the trajectory of the annual will be discussed in detail below. What deserves mentioning here is that it was probably in recognition of its standards that Hell was elected corresponding member (membre correspondant) of the Académie Royale des 41 Huberti to Hell in Vienna, dated Paris, October 3, 1757 (wus, secretary’s copy). For more on the visit of Huberti and Mayer to Paris, see Moutchnik, Forschung und Lehre, 67–69; 152–54; 447. 42 For a complete list of items published in the Ephemerides, see Carlos Sommervogel, “Hell, Maximilien,” in Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus […] Bibliographie (Brussels: Oscar Schepens, 1893), 4:238–58.